Ashes Crushed and Tossed Away
by QueenH
Summary: With the Wraith on the way to Atlantis, Jack O'Neill is forced to make a choice and the repercussions are felt by everyone. Crossover with Stargate Atlantis. Complete.
1. Confessions

Title: Ashes Crushed and Tossed Away

Author: QueenH

Feedback: Please, I live for it.

Summary: With the Wraith on their way to Atlantis, Jack O'Neill has to make a choice, and the repercussions are felt by everyone.

Crossover: SG-1/Atlantis

Pairing: none

Rating/Content Level: 13+

Genre: Action/Adventure

Warnings: Just a few curse words and some mild violence.

Spoilers: There are many for Reckoning part 1 and 2 as well as Threads of SG-1 Season 8. Also for the last half of the Atlantis season 1.

Disclaimer: No I don't own any of the characters expect for the ones I created myself. If I owned them I certainly wouldn't be writing about them.

Notes: Thanks go out to Jolene for being patient and sticking with me as I wrote this. You are a wonderful beta reader, and your assistance has been tremendous. I know I wouldn't have finished this if you hadn't been there to help. Also want to thank Lynette for helping me out at the beginning.

* * *

Chapter 1 Confessions

"Sir, you should take a look at this." Carter's voice echoed through the phone line, and General O'Neill sighed heavily and put his hand on his head as he nodded. "Sir, the information the Atlantis team sent back is definitely…"

He cut her off with a loud groan. "Listen, Carter. I'll be there in a few minutes. Right now I've gotta finish this amazing memo to the commissary about their new budget."

"Right, sir."

With that Jack hung up the phone and went back to his memo. His concentration was broken though, and he silently hung his head, as he slowly felt his world begin to crumble around him. He spent the next few hours avoiding Colonel Carter and her new findings from the Atlantis team's message.

As he sat quietly in his office he began to feel a familiar presence surround him. With a groan he ground his fists together and then reached a hand beneath the desk and pressed a button to turn off the camera monitoring his office.

"What do you want?" He called out, waiting for the presence to show itself.

The room lit up brightly for a moment; then a dark haired woman stepped forward and took a seat across from Jack. "You shouldn't greet a friend that way."

Jack gritted his teeth as he responded. "You aren't my friend anymore. Now what do you want?"

"Though it is against my better judgment, I have come to give you a warning. You should tell your team the truth. The fate of this world may depend on it."

With a sarcastic laugh Jack leaned back in his chair. "Are you insane? What the hell are you talking about?"

"The Wraith are close to finding their way here. Earth is not prepared to stop an attack such as that which the Wraith are capable of. Their hunger is great, and they will destroy this world and all who stand in their way." The woman lowered her head solemnly, and Jack couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"How do you know this?"

"I still keep in touch with the other Outcasts that remain in the Pegasus Galaxy. One of them has recently met with the team from Atlantis. The Wraith have awoken in full."

With a heavy sigh Jack shook his head. "What do you expect me to do? Meddling is your affair, not mine."

The woman scowled at Jack's venomous tongue. "Was it not meddling that led to you being here in the first place?"

"As I recall, it was you that got me put here."

She gave him an indignant look and stood up. "I came to warn you, nothing more. I won't stay and listen to your petty attempts at placing blame. The past cannot be undone now."

Before Jack had a chance to respond a bright light swept through the room, and the woman was gone. Stifling a groan Jack buried his head in his hands and closed his eyes. Deep down he knew that he was coming very close to his own moment of truth and he was dreading what he knew would inevitably happen.

> > > >

Back in Carter's office, she and Daniel were going over the data found in the transmission from Atlantis, and working on sorting out the information they had deciphered thus far.

"So these Wraith basically suck the life out their victims?" Daniel asked as Carter sifted through the information on the laptop in front of her.

"That's what I gather from the data Weir's team sent us. There's so much information here though. I haven't even scratched the surface of all the data they sent through. We've had a team sifting through it trying to separate files and determine exactly what is there."

Daniel was about to speak again when there was a knock on the door to the laboratory. They looked up to see an airman standing there with a rather thick set of folders in his hands.

"These are for you ma'am, the latest specs on the updates to the Prometheus. General Hammond wanted you to take a look." Daniel took the files from the airman and set them beside Carter's laptop.

"Thank you Sergeant."

"Yes, ma'am." With that Carter nodded the airman out of her office and he turned on his heel and quickly exited the lab.

"Wow! This is fascinating." Carter looked up from the computer and Daniel was watching her intently. "It looks like the Atlantis team came across a time machine. From the description it sounds like the device on the Ancient ship we found when we went to get Maybourne."

Daniel's eyes widened and he moved closer to get a look at the screen of her laptop. "You're right. It does sound just like it. The schematics look similar as well…Has Jack seen this yet?"

"No, the general said he'd be by later to take a look at what we found."

"Is now appropriate, Carter?" Jack's voice caught them off guard and they both stumbled from their positions in surprise.

"Sir, didn't hear you come in."

"You really should try knocking, Jack."

"Well Daniel. It is MY base. I really don't have to." Jack quipped as he stepped forward a few more steps so that he was right next to both Daniel and Carter.

"How…adult of you, Jack." Daniel rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to the screen. "These are some rather interesting findings Weir's team made."

Jack put on his best 'I'm truly fascinated' look and motioned for them to go on. "Wonderful, you two. Fill me in."

Carter was the first to speak, prattling on about the information in the Atlantis transmission, and Daniel chimed in a few times to add his own opinion about things. Finally, Jack had had enough and he put his hand up to stop them.

"Alright, alright. Sounds like you need some more time to go over things. Do that and give me your reports in the morning. I'm going back up to my office."

Daniel and Carter nodded, and Jack stood to leave. He waved good-bye with a wide smile before pushing himself out the door and slowly making his way down the corridor towards the elevator. Once he reached his office he slumped down in his seat and brought his left hand to his forehead. He closed his eyes and ran his thumb and forefinger down the bridge of his nose as he sighed.

He paid enough attention to his friend's prattling, and with his few glances at the laptop screen he knew that the Atlantis team was in grave danger. As he looked up from his hands he stared blankly at the wall in front of him, wondering just how he was going to get some help to his people without causing any problems for himself. Sadly, he knew there wasn't a chance in Hell he'd actually be able to succeed in that.

The next morning there were two carefully written reports on his desk and he began to flip through them before he'd even sat down. In less than an hour he'd read them both, and his worse fears were realized. Sighing he picked up the phone and began to dial.

"Walter, I want SG-1 in my office now." Not waiting for a response he merely hung up and began to tap his fingers rapidly across the top of his oak desk.

A few minutes later the three members of the SGC's flagship team entered the eerily quiet office and took their seats across from the general.

"Alright, I read your reports. From what I can tell it looks like Weir and her team are facing a pretty serious threat with these Wraiths. The last report Weir sent said the bad guys'd be knocking on their door in less than a week. I'd rather not see that happen if it can be avoided. Anyone got any ideas?" Jack's comment surprised his team, since they'd only left the reports on his desk an hour before. They were puzzled as to how he could have read the rather lengthy and detailed reports in such a short time.

Daniel stared wide-eyed at the general and opened his mouth to comment, but Carter spoke up first.

"I was thinking, sir. General Hammond sent me the specs for the modifications to the Prometheus, and I talked to the leader of the team working on the ship. They're saying the ship will be operational in a few weeks. The updates are taking a little longer than they anticipated."

Jack shook his head at the colonel. "That doesn't really help us, Carter. Weir and her team need help sooner than that."

"Well, sir. The Prometheus can't get there in time, but the prototype Daedalus can."

"The new hyperspace, ZPM powered experimental ship?" Jack asked, not holding back his skepticism.

"Yes. The research team has been working around the clock on it since Prometheus was damaged during its last mission to Pegasus. Everything is ready; they just haven't tested her in space yet. If all goes well the ship can make it there in about four days."

Jack turned to look at Daniel and Teal'c who were sitting quietly as Carter continued telling them about the Daedalus's capabilities and specifications.

"Okay, Carter I'm sold. Unless either of you has another option?" Both Daniel and Teal'c shook their heads, and Jack continued. "Alright, you work on that Carter. Daniel, I know you have to have something to add."

"Well, the Daedalus is the best chance we have to help Weir and her team. Who exactly are you thinking of sending? With Anubis on his way here can we really spare the troops?"

"Daniel Jackson considering not helping someone? I think Hell just froze over."

Daniel rolled his eyes at Jack's remark "That's not what I meant. It's just I can't see the President okaying you sending anyone to help Dr. Weir if we're in danger ourselves. As it is we have no idea when Anubis will be here."

"DanielJackson is correct. Anyone sent to aid the Atlantis team, would be one less that would be needed here if Anubis were to attack in the interim."

Jack sighed heavily, and nodded in agreement. "I don't think Hayes will drop the mission, but he may cap the number of people we can send though. I'll talk to Hammond about it. He should be here by noon. I want the three of you there for the briefing."

They all nodded and he dismissed them from his office. As they started to leave he waved Teal'c back into the office.

"Was there something more you wished to say, O'Neill?"

"2100 hours tonight, I want you to bring the team to my house. Don't tell them why, just make sure they're there."

Teal'c could read the grave expression on his friend's face and he nodded. "You feel they are ready then?"

"Not completely, T. If I'm right though, things are only gonna get worse from here on out, and it'll be easier if I tell them now, rather than have them find out later."

"As you wish. I will make certain they arrive on time." With that Teal'c turned to leave and Jack let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding since they'd entered his office.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Their briefing with Hammond had gone as expected, and the general had agreed with their suggestion to send the Daedalus to the Pegasus galaxy to assist Weir and her team. It was left to General Hammond to convince the President, and Jack was glad that he wasn't in Hammond's shoes at that moment. Unfortunately, his impending meeting with his team later that evening had begun to weigh on his mind heavily as they day wore on. When he finally left the mountain he was practically speeding home while his heart beat rapidly in his chest.

He pulled into his driveway and dragged himself inside the house, still trying to figure out how he was going to tell his team the truth. His only hope was they would forgive him for what he was sure they would see as a true betrayal of their friendship. Mentally he readied himself for the worst as he changed out of his uniform and into jeans and a t-shirt. As he walked out of his bedroom he felt the same presence he'd felt in his office the day before, and he groaned loudly.

"I don't need this right now. Leave me alone."

Just as quickly as he felt the presence arrive, it was gone and he sighed in relief. A moment later the doorbell rang and he went to answer it.

"Good evening, sir." Carter smiled and Jack stepped aside to let her in.

"Where are Daniel and Teal'c?"

"They were just few minutes behind me. I left the mountain early, otherwise I would have been with them."

Jack closed the door behind her and motioned for her to go into the living room. "Well, make yourself comfortable."

"Sir, can I ask why we're meeting tonight? Teal'c wouldn't say."

With a slightly nervous expression on his face Jack smiled. "You'll find out when the others get here."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang again and Jack hurriedly made his way to answer it. He let Daniel and Teal'c inside and told them to have a seat in the living room, while he disappeared into the kitchen for a moment to gather his courage.

A minute or so later he joined them in the living room and again he felt the familiar presence enter the room with him. He silently cursed it, and kept moving until he reached the couch where his team was seated.

"So what's up, Jack? Teal'c just said you wanted to meet with us. What's this about?"

Jack was about to speak when he felt the presence touch him and he shuddered, cursing out loud as he did so.

"Is everything okay, sir?"

The concern on his teammate's faces was clear and Jack closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them as he tried to speak. "Yes…No…Hell, I need to sit down for this."

"Jack are you sure you're okay?"

The presence touched him again and Jack made a sound the others could only interpret as a growl before he stood up, turned his face towards the ceiling and began to shout.

"Dammit, I told you to leave me alone! Haven't you done enough already!"

"Who are you talking to, Jack?" Daniel asked as Teal'c immediately began to scan the room as though an intruder might be present.

Jack was obviously irate as he turned to the opposite corner of the room and began to speak to someone the others couldn't see. "You just had to be here for this, didn't you? I can't even tell them in private. You just can't stop meddling can you? The least you could do is show yourself, ya know."

"What are you talking about, Jack? There's no one here but the four of us." Daniel waved his arms around to emphasize his point, but Jack scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Show yourself before I make you!" This time Jack's voice was firm, while Daniel and Sam looked at each other in concern for their friend.

"Who do you think is here, sir?" Carter tried to reach her hand out to touch the general's shoulder, but he quickly batted it away.

"You're just enjoying making me look insane aren't you?" With a frustrated sigh Jack closed his eyes and brought his hands together so that his palms were touching and were held just above his waist. "I warned you. The Others may have stopped me from going glowy, but it doesn't mean I don't have some of my powers."

As the words left Jack's mouth Daniel and Carter moved cautiously towards one another, both trying quietly to figure out what was going on. Teal'c stepped between his three Tau'ri comrades, surprising Daniel and Carter as he nodded in O'Neill's direction, with a raised eyebrow, which they took to mean for them to wait and see what happened. In years past they had never doubted the Jaffa's senses, and their only hope was that this time he was as right as he usually was.

The three of them watched as a bright light began to emanate from Jack's hands and they let their shock show, as the light spread outward from his hand and moved straight towards the opposite end of the room. Suddenly, a figure appeared in the corner of room where the light had been moving, they stared blankly at the familiar woman standing before them.

"Oma Desala?" Daniel croaked out the name in confusion and disbelief, and the woman that had helped him ascend two years before stepped a few feet closer to him.

Oma nodded and smiled kindly before turning her attention to the general. "Are you satisfied, they can all see me now?"

Jack snarled at her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Not even close. I wouldn't even be doing this if you hadn't shown up earlier!"

"Why are you shouting? It will solve nothing."

Jack glared angrily at the Ancient woman as he stepped closer to her. "You caused this. Whether you admit it or not, Earth is in this position because you couldn't stop meddling where you didn't belong. The only reason I'm here now is because of you!"

"That is a lie! You were punished for breaking our laws. That was no fault of mine!"

"How can you say that! What I did was trivial compared to what you did by letting Anubis ascend. You had no right to let that happen. You knew what he was, what he would become, and you still helped him." Jack shook his head and turned away from Oma and back towards his team.

"What's going on, Jack?" Daniel was the first to find his tongue, and Jack took a deep breath before answering.

"It's complicated, but I can explain."

"How about explaining what you did just a minute ago when you went all glowworm, to steal one of your own phrases?"

"A very long time ago…I used to be an Ancient. I guess I still am to some degree."

Daniel ran a hand through his hair and raised an eyebrow in Jack's direction as he turned to check on Carter who was still surprisingly quiet. The colonel was still doing a fine impression of a guppy as she waited for Jack to continue.

"See…it started with Oma here trying to help Anubis ascend…"

At the mention of her name, Oma put up her hand to stop him; Jack stopped mid-sentence and groaned loudly at the interruption. "I believe you should start at the beginning if you are going to tell them the whole story."

Jack nodded reluctantly and then continued. "She's right. It started before that…when we were all on Atlantis."

The city of Atlantis over 10,000 years ago…

"We have no choice, Minister. The Wraith will be upon us in a matter of days. They are too many in number for us to defeat. We must move Atlantis to a safer location." Jerron raised his arms as he spoke to the members of the Atlantian council.

It seemed as though he was reaching them for the first time in months. He cast a quick glance to the side, where his friend, Janus, sat quietly waiting, and listening to his words. They gave one another a comforting smile and Jerron nodded to the council and went to take his seat.

A gray-haired council elder stood and turned to Jerron. "We will consider the matter, and will inform you and the others of our decision before the sun has set. You and Janus may go."

With that Jerron and Janus took their leave. They passed through the sliding doors and were surprised when they encountered another of their fellow researchers as they rounded a corner of the city.

"Desa, it's good to see you. How have you been?" Jerron asked as he pulled the small woman into a tight embrace and then slowly pulled away so Janus could do the same.

The woman smiled and nodded gratefully. "I am well, Jerron. You and Janus have been making yourselves scarce as of late."

"We've been busy with our research. There hasn't been much time for socializing with all the fighting going on." Desa sighed heavily at Janus's words and the three companions went silent for a moment.

"I was told you were speaking to the council this morning?"

"Yes. Janus and I have only just left them. I only hope they will take our advice."

Janus shook his head vigorously as he began to speak. "They have to Jerron. Our only chance of surviving the Wraith is to move the city."

"Where would we go, Janus? There is no place in this galaxy where we would be safe. Most of our settlements in this galaxy have already fallen to the Wraith." Desa tried to argue, but Janus was quick to cut her off.

"If we take the city to Theria, we can submerge ourselves in the oceans there while we formulate a plan of attack. The Wraith can't win this war; we have to find a way to stop them. This would at least give us more time."

"What you say is logical, though I would be surprised if the council members agree."

Janus sighed knowing that the woman was correct. "You're probably right, but even they have to know we're running out of options. Soon the Wraith will be here, and if we don't act now there will be nothing left for us to save. All the humans in this galaxy will be doomed if we don't find a way to stop the Wraith."

"You are a true warrior at heart, my friend." Jerron brought a hand up and placed it on Janus's shoulder and the taller man laughed softly.

"This isn't the act of a warrior, it is the act of a protector. I want to protect our people. This is the only way to do so. Everyone on Atlantis knows we'll all die if we don't leave soon."

The two men turned to see that Desa had gone quiet; they could tell by the look on her face that she wanted to say something, but was hesitant to do so.

"What is it, Desa? Do you disagree with us?" Jerron asked as he placed his free hand on her shoulder as well.

"It's just that…well…we could join the others…take our higher form. Then we would be free from all this." Desa waved her arms around, and the other two shook their heads in disagreement.

"That is the coward's way out, doing that will surely doom the others in this galaxy. Besides which, we have no idea what the effects of such an action would be. It's only been successfully tried by a handful of our kind. How can you suggest such a thing?" Janus did his best not to shout, but his pure anger at the suggestion was clear.

"Calm yourself, Janus. She's only stating what many on Atlantis feel. I fear even the council members are considering that as a option at the moment."

With another heavy sigh Janus pulled himself away from his two companions. "I just can't see how leaving the humans to die at the hands of the Wraith is an option, Jerron. We brought them here, abandoning them would just be wrong. If we leave them behind like that, what does it say about us as a people?"

Jerron sighed as he and Desa nodded. "I agree with you, my friend. Unfortunately, there are many that do not share your fervent desire to aid the humans."

"You may be right, Jerron. I only hope we were able to convince the council to act in our favor."

For a moment the three friends stared at one another in silence, each knowing that there was only a slim chance that they had succeeded in that task.

> > > >

"It wasn't right for us to just leave Pegasus and all the people there in the hands of the Wraith. We'd moved ourselves to a relatively safe distance when we were close to being beaten by them, but running wasn't going to solve anything. We still had a good chance of winning the war."

Jack paused in the telling of his story to see the crestfallen expressions on Daniel and Carter's faces. The team looked up at the man they thought they knew and both Daniel and Carter were quick to look away. Jack could see the disbelief and confusion in their eyes and he lowered his head, not sure if he should continue just yet. He knew he was dumping a ton of information on them all at once, and there was still much more for him to tell them. With a soft sigh he stood up from his seat on the couch and moved to the opposite corner of the room away from his friends.

"Maybe we should take a break? You guys look a little…" Jack trailed off as he raised his head and Teal'c was on his feet as well.

"O'Neill is correct, a short break would do us all well." The Jaffa nodded to Jack and waited a moment before Daniel and Carter followed him outside.

"Does this make any sense to you, guys?" Carter asked as she and the other two members of SG-1 stepped out onto Jack's back porch, leaving the general alone with Oma.

"Honestly, Sam this sounds totally insane. I can't believe Jack was an Ancient this whole time, and no one knew." Daniel turned to Teal'c, who had been standing stoically listening to him and Carter speak. "What's your take on this? Don't you feel even a little betrayed?"

"I do not. I have been aware of O'Neill being an Ancient for many years now."

"WHAT?" Carter and Daniel shouted simultaneously, the big Jaffa merely nodded before continuing to explain himself.

"When O'Neill and myself were in possession of one another's bodies after finding Machello, I became aware of what O'Neill truly was. He asked me to maintain his secrecy, and I agreed. At the time he felt you were not ready to know, and I was in agreement. There were too many other issues to consider at the time. He has always intended for you both to know the truth."

"How could you not tell us?" Daniel was obviously upset as he began to pace back and forth on the porch, the color of his cheeks turning almost purple with his rage.

"It was not my secret to tell, DanielJackson."

"That's all you have to say, Teal'c?" Carter spoke up as she stepped between her teammates, the younger of which looked ready to pounce at any moment.

"As I said, it was not for me to tell you. O'Neill swore an oath to me, that he would tell you both of his true nature when the time was right. He has decided that now is the correct time to do so, and I only hope he has not misplaced his trust in you both."

With a loud groan, Daniel slammed his fist down on the wooden railing just beside him. "I don't believe this! You think he was right to lie to us?"

"Those were not my words. In fact, I believe O'Neill was incorrect in allowing you both to remain unaware of his true nature for so long. On several occasions I have told him this, but it was always his decision when you were to be told." Teal'c cocked an eyebrow at his two friends and crossed his arms over his chest. "I had believed you two would accept this knowledge without harboring any anger towards O'Neill. In the past, I have known you both to be too honorable to be so petty. Now I fear I may have been wrong if this is your reaction to this knowledge."

With that the Jaffa turned and walked off the porch and onto the grass of O'Neill's back yard and stood quietly in the moonlight as Daniel and Carter cast confused glances at one another.

> > > >

"They will forgive you for your deception, Janus. They merely need time." Oma Desala smiled a comforting smile and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, which he reluctantly leaned into.

"Janus died 10,000 years ago, Desa. My name is Jack." The Ancient nodded as she moved her hand from Jack's shoulder. "Daniel and Sam have every right to hate me right now. I've been lying to them for nearly ten years."

Oma sighed as Jack closed his eyes for a moment letting his emotions take over for a brief moment. "You have not misplaced your trust in them. They will come around."

"Why are you still here? Why are you trying to make me feel better?"

"We were friends once…I know you feel I betrayed you, and perhaps on some level I did, but I had hoped that one day we could move past that, and once again be friends. We are both struggling for the same thing after all."

Jack laughed, and there was a hint of sarcasm in his laughter that was not missed by Oma. "Are you sure about that?"

"You want to protect Earth from the Goa'uld do you not?" Jack nodded to her, and she continued. "And do you not wish to prevent the Wraith from coming here as well?"

"Yes! You know I want those things."

"So do I. Together perhaps we can find a way to do that without causing the others to intervene." The confused look on Jack's face made the Ancient woman shake her head slightly before she continued. "I know I was wrong to help Anubis ascend. Even when you and the others warned me of the consequences of such an action, I still did it."

"Why?"

"Because if I was to decree him unworthy for ascension, I would have been playing god. You and I both know that was the last thing we wanted. That was what separated us from the Goa'uld in the first place. I could not place myself in that position and still think myself different from the Goa'uld. Can you not understand that?"

With soft sigh, and a nod Jack took Oma's hand in his. "That I can understand, but you were still wrong. You always had a reason for the things you did, but those reasons don't excuse all the things that happened because of your actions. Can you not see what I'm saying? You never even apologized to me for setting me up."

The words left his mouth as almost a whisper while he shook his head at her. She watched the emotions play across his face, and when the truth of his words hit home to her she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"You make a valid point. I am sorry for what I did, more than you will ever know. It was my fault for Jerron's death. I should not have told the others of your plans. He might still be alive today if I had kept silent. You were both right to do what you did."

Jack stood quietly for a long moment, taking in what she had said then slowly he nodded, and smiled softly at the woman he once called a friend. "Thank you. I also owe you an apology as well."

"What could you possibly have to apologize to me for?"

"It wasn't your fault that I ended up here. I mean you did set me up so the council could catch me, but everything that happened after that was entirely of my own doing."

"This is true, but you wouldn't have been in that position if it weren't for me."

Jack shook his head and laughed bitterly. "Somehow I don't think so. Jerron and I were already going against the council's orders. There was a high likelihood one of us would have been caught."

Oma locked eyes with Jack and the confusion in her expression was clear. "Why are you saying all this now, when just a short while ago you were blaming me for everything?"

"I've had a few thousand years to think things over. I did blame you in part, but mostly I was angry at you for not sticking by us." Jack paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "When Jerron died it was like losing a part of me. We grew up together. We were best friends, as close as two people can be that aren't actually related by blood. He was my family, and I blamed you for taking him away from me. If he had ascended I doubt I would have been so upset, but when the others didn't allow it…"

"That was my fault." Oma quietly interjected as she lowered her head.

"I know. The council members were all too eager to let me know that your recommendation had been paramount in their decision to stop Jerron from ascending."

"I was trying to follow our laws…" She tried to explain, but Jack was quick to cut her off.

"Please don't explain. I know why you did it. I don't know if I can ever forgive you completely for it, but I do understand."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you. I appreciate your honesty." With a heavy sigh Jack leaned back against the nearby wall, he was about to speak when he cast a glance towards the kitchen and the door to his back porch

Jack could see the silhouettes of his teammates and hear Daniel's raised voice as they continued their discussion outside on the porch. He knew his teammates and friends were upset with him and he somberly lowered his head, not sure how he was going to gain their trust back again.

> > > >

"He lied to us, Sam." Daniel tried to keep his voice down, but it was still raised more so than usual.

"I realize that, Daniel, but he had his reasons. We owe him the chance to finish explaining it to us. All we know so far is that he and Oma were friends and they tried to stop the Ancients from abandoning Atlantis, and Jack was punished for it."

Daniel shook his head furiously. "That doesn't change anything."

"I realize that, but we should hear him out." Carter sighed and lowered her head. "We owe him that much."

"We don't owe him a damn thing!"

With an exasperated groan Carter stepped back a few paces from Daniel. "I get being upset about this, but you're being pretty harsh, Daniel."

"Am I?" Daniel's voice grew louder as he spoke. "He's made fools of us all these years, doesn't that upset you in the slightest?"

"I'm sure that wasn't his intent."

"Maybe not, but that's what he did. Don't you even feel the slightest bit like a fool right now?"

Carter looked up at Daniel and sighed. "Yes, but…I can understand why he didn't tell us. Do you honestly think we would have been receptive to this earlier? We were barely gaining an understanding of the Stargate and the few alien races we'd come across. We had barely scratched the surface of who and what the Ancients were, knowing that Jack was one of them would have only sidetracked us from coming to our own understanding of them and their purpose."

Daniel was quiet for a moment, letting Carter's words sink in, and deep down he knew she was right, but as hurt as he was he wasn't quite ready to fully accept it. "Maybe you're right?"

"Think about it, Daniel?" Carter paused as Daniel took a seat on the top step leading onto the grass and she took a seat beside him. "We first went through the gate and we were trying to find Sha're and Skaara. We were trying to defend ourselves from Apophis and the rest of the Goa'uld as well. From what we know of the Ancients, it was against their rules to interfere in the development of another species. If Jack had told us before now he would have been doing just that."

"How is him telling us now any different though?" For a moment Carter was quiet, contemplating her answer to Daniel's question, and as she looked up she saw that Teal'c had returned to their side.

"We're more ready now. We're at a point where we know about and to some degree understand the Ancients, before we would have expected more from him." Daniel again shook his head, but Carter put her hand up to stop him before he spoke again. "Let's let him explain things a bit more, and then we can decide how we feel about this, as long was he give him a chance. He'd do the same for us."

"I believe ColonelCarter is correct. There is much more for O'Neill to tell you, and I believe it would benefit you both to hear it before passing judgment upon him."

Seeing the logic of their words, Daniel nodded and with a heavy sigh stood to go back inside with his teammates just behind him as he did so. It was a slow walk for all of them, that seemed to last an eternity. As Teal'c closed the door behind them they saw Jack and Oma standing beside one another in the kitchen, and they all took a seat at the nearby table.

Daniel was the first to speak to everyone's surprise. "Alright, Jack. Tell us the rest of your story."

The Antarctica outpost 10,000 years ago…

Despite the council taking Jerron and Janus's suggestion and moving Atlantis to Theria, the Anicents were still no match for the Wraith, and were forced to leave their city behind and return to Earth through the Stargate. The last of the Ancients passed through the Stargate and Janus and Jerron watched as the gate shut down. They shook their heads in sorrow before turning and walking away from the gate and down the nearby corridor leading towards the transport ships.

"Were you able to explain it all to Dr. Weir?" Janus whispered as they took their seats and waited for the ship to take off.

"Yes. It should work as long as she follows the directions I gave her."

Janus nodded and leaned back in his seat. "I only hope we're able to build the new time machine."

"We did it before. I don't see why we can't do it again."

Their conversation ended abruptly as the ship began to takeoff. They remained in silence until the ship reached its destination several hours later.

"So this is to be our new home." Jerron commented as they stepped out of the transport ship and stood facing the settlement still being built to house the few of their people that had returned from Atlantis.

The head of the Atlantian Council caught both men by surprise and they turned in direction. "The humans on this world will know nothing of us. This location will keep us secret from them, so that they can continue to evolve without our interference."

Jerron was quick to nod in agreement with the council elder. "Of course, Minister. It appears quite welcoming."

Janus grabbed Jerron by the arm and quickly pulled him from the minister's sight. They kept moving until they had found the quarters they had been assigned to on the opposite side of the small settlement.

"This new home of ours will do nicely." Janus smiled widely as he scanned their new laboratory. He quickly moved to the first console and turned on the main systems.

> > > >

"Wait a minute." Daniel stopped Jack in the middle of his story. "What does Dr. Weir have to do with this?"

"When she and the rest of the Atlantis expedition went to the Pegasus galaxy they inadvertently stumbled upon the time travel machine that Jerron and I built. She, Major Sheppard, and Dr. Zelenka managed to get the ship away from Atlantis, but it crashed and Weir was the only survivor. They had somehow sent the ship back in time to just after we'd completed the ship. We both got into a lot of trouble because we were supposed to have destroyed all our research regarding the time machine. We had wanted to try it out first, but we hadn't even had a chance to do that before the Wraith attacked Theria. Anyway, when we came back to Earth with the others, Dr. Weir asked to stay behind. The council members refused, but we were able to hide her and gave her instructions on how to freeze herself until she could be revived by her team in the future."

Daniel stared open-mouthed for a moment before saying anything. "That's why you didn't let me go with them?"

"In part, yes. She mentioned that she was glad you hadn't been allowed to go because you probably would have died along with the rest of her team."

Carter and Daniel let out breaths they hadn't realized they were holding and motioned for Jack to continue.

> > > >

After months of work they were close to finishing their new time machine, but a plague had broken out among their people. It was ravaging them, causing many to try and take their higher form in order to escape the trail of death the plague had been leaving throughout their already meager population. Because of this, Janus and Jerron were forced to slow their efforts so that they could help in finding a cure for the plague. They had teamed with a small group of scientists lead by a woman named Eshea, and together they were desperately seeking a cure for this mysterious illness. Their efforts seemed to be in vain as the plague continued to do its damage in the interim.

"You cannot do this! The council will never allow it." She cried out as she watched her two friends working feverishly to finish their project.

"Desa, you know we're right. The council members were willing to return to Earth and leave the humans in the Pegasus Galaxy to certain doom. They were wrong to do so. Jerron and I are only trying to protect them. Can you honestly say that this is wrong?"

Desa stared blankly at Janus, not sure what to say in response. Jerron's voice was the next to speak, causing the other two to turn in his direction.

"If you can think of another way to stop the massacre that will occur when we leave, tell us Desa. Otherwise, this is our only choice."

A tear rolled down her cheek and she shook her head. "I would have done so if I knew another way, but to go against the council is dangerous. I don't want to see either of you hurt."

Janus and Jerron stopped their work and moved closer to Desa. They each placed a hand on one of her shoulders and Janus reached his free hand up to wipe away the tears that were freely running down her face.

"We're being as careful as we can. The council knows nothing of this new machine. As far as they are concerned the time machine and all the research pertaining to it have been destroyed. We won't be caught."

Desa's eyes were focused on Jerron, and she wanted desperately to believe him, but something inside her knew that things were only going to get worse.

"I wish I could believe that."

"Trust us, Desa. This is the best chance the humans have." Jerron's voice was calm and soothing to her and she smiled weakly in return.

"I do trust you, both of you, but this seems too risky even for the two of you."

Janus sighed and shook his head in agreement. "You may be right, but we have to do this. It's just not fair to leave them unprotected."

Desa shook her head. "What about the problems we are facing here? The plague has devastated us. Already, many have chosen to ascend, and more are attempting to do so each day."

"That's just it. Perhaps by using the time machine, we can go back and find the source of this damned disease. We can save ourselves as well as the humans." Jerron placed a hand on Desa's shoulder and the younger woman brought a hand up to wipe away her tears.

"You're considering it yourself, aren't you?" Janus asked as he cocked his head in Desa's direction. "Can you not see that Ascension isn't necessarily a way out? There's no guarantee that it will even work."

"Aren't you afraid the plague could kill you?" The question left her throat as barely a whisper and both men's eyes were downcast.

"All our people fear it. I'd be a fool if I didn't, but Janus and I are trying to find a way to stop it. This machine may be the only way to do that."

Desa turned away, wrapping her arms around herself at Jerron's words as another tear rolled down her cheek.

> > > >

"What exactly was the plague that the Ancients couldn't cure?" Carter asked, interrupting as well as surprising the general. "Was it the same sickness that we all got when we thawed out that Ancient, Ayiana a couple years ago?"

Jack shook his head. "No, the plague that nearly wiped us out didn't affect humans, unless they had the gene."

"It attacked the immune system first. It seemed almost like a common cold; headaches, high fever, stuff like that. Once those symptoms went away it was like the whole body began to deteriorate. The virus mutated the blood cells somehow causing them to basically starting eating away at each other. An infected person's system would simply shut down. It was a long process though. My people managed to set up quarantine areas, but every time we thought we had a handle on it, more people would get sick…more people would die"

Carter and Daniel cast a glance at one another, having both seen the sorrowful look in Jack's eyes as he paused and turned away from them for a moment. Through the years they had seen the man they knew as Jack O'Neill show his emotions in front of them, but only on rare occasions. The emotion on their leader's face now wrenched the two scientists to the core. Slowly, Daniel reached a hand out and touched Jack's shoulder. He gave his friend a comforting smile and waited for him to go on with his story.

> > > >

Nearly a year went by as Janus and Jerron continued to work towards finding a cure for the mysterious plague as well as trying to build their new time machine. Working in secret had made the process slower than anticipated, but they were finally putting the finishing touches to the time machine.

"We've been at this for months, Jerron. Our people are dying. This has to work."

"It will, my friend. It will."

Jerron put an arm around Janus and the other man leaned into the touch. "I just don't want to lose anyone else. There are only a handful of our people left now."

"I know, but this will change all that. We'll make it right."

Janus smiled weakly and then the two went back to their work. Within a few hours the machine was ready for the first trial, and both men turned to stare at one another, silently asking each other the same question.

"We can't both go, Jerron." Janus was the first to speak his thoughts out loud, and Jerron nodded.

"I should be the one to go. You will be needed here to help find the cure if things…" Jerron let the sentence hang, not wanting to jinx things by suggesting it might not work. "Eshea will need you to help her continue working on a cure, and someone has to talk some sense into Desa before she actually helps that filthy creature to ascend."

Janus sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Are you sure? I don't want to leave you alone."

"I'll be fine. You are too important. You have to remain here."

"If the others catch you…"

"They won't. The only ones who know about this are the two of us and Desa." Jerron took a deep breath and then spoke again. "If she were going to say anything she would have done so by now."

"I suppose you're right. It just seems wrong to let you go alone."

"Do not worry, Janus. I will be alright. Trust me in this."

Janus smiled half-heartedly. "We'd better get ready then. The sooner we do this the better."

Jerron nodded in agreement as both men set to work with their last minute preparations before Jerron could set off. Within a few hours they were ready. Janus put in the proper coordinates to send the time machine back, and then walked down the ramp off the ship where Jerron was waiting for him. Both men embraced one last time before Jerron turned, went back into the ship, and closed the door. The thud of metal on metal rang in Janus's ears as he walked away

"Good luck, Jerron." Janus spoke through the radio in his hand, as he watched the ship cloak itself and take off from its secluded spot in the forest beside the settlement.

"I'll see you soon, my friend."

> > > >

"Jerron made it back a few weeks later only to die in my arms." There was a sadness in Jack's voice that none of his teammates had heard before. He looked up to see them silently and intently waiting to hear him say more. "He had been caught by the Wraith before he could get back. He'd been able to get away before they drained too much of his life, but by the time he made it home he was already dying. I hid the time machine but the council found us right after. Jerron died while we were being held by the council, leaving me to be punished for our interference. They forced me to remain on Earth as an observer of sorts. I was made to stay in human form, aging every so often, watching as one thing after another happened to the people here. They'd stripped me of my powers so there was no way I could interfere."

"How exactly is that possible?" Carter asked the question they all wanted an answer to. "You made Oma appear earlier, how could they have made you powerless?"

With a heavy sigh Jack answered. "They placed a gene suppression device inside me that…well, basically it suppresses my Ancient abilities. It's kinda hard to explain. It works similarly to nano-technology; it's a microscopic chip that tells the Ancient cells in my body to stay dormant."

"Wouldn't something like that be noticeable during a medical exam?" Jack smirked at Carter's question, and the colonel seemed less than amused by his response.

"Sorry, but no. The device is so small that none of the technology on Earth would be able to detect it."

To everyone's surprise Daniel slammed his fist against the desk as he curled his lips and gave them all a knowing look, as though pieces of the puzzle were all coming together in his mind.

"What about the Asgard? They know about you don't they?"

Jack chuckled softly and nodded. "Didn't think you'd get it that quickly, but yes Daniel, they know. They have ever since I had Ancient's knowledge downloaded into my head the first time."

"That's something I was wondering about, sir. Didn't you already have that knowledge in your mind to begin with? You had to know what that device was? Why didn't you let Daniel or I take it?"

"You wouldn't have been able to handle the download. The device the others put inside me, for all intents and purposes, makes me human, but it was the Ancient gene that made it possible for me to handle the download. My brain is still basically wired like that of an Ancient. You would have died from that kind of overload. Oddly enough I think taking those two downloads is what's given me some of my power back. I think it's drained the battery on the gene suppressor inside me to some degree."

Carter and Daniel shared a curious glance at one another and turned back to Jack.

"This is all a little surreal, Jack." Daniel began, and put his hand up to stop Jack when the older man opened his mouth to speak. "This story is pretty fascinating, but something that doesn't make sense to me is why you would be given such a harsh punishment. Oma's an Outcast and her powers were never taken away. Even the Outcast in the Atlantis team's reports still maintained hers. Why were you treated differently?"

"My favorite genius." Jack gave them all a half-hearted smile to match the dry tone of his voice. "As I already said, our time traveling wasn't just to help the humans that were left in the Pegasus galaxy."

Before Jack could explain further, Oma broke her silence and began to speak causing everyone to turned in her direction. "Almost instantly on our return from Atlantis, many of our people began to get sick. It had been centuries since there had been any illness that could affect us like this one. We realized quickly we had no cure for the plague, and despite our best efforts we couldn't find one. Jack came close but no one seemed to be listening to him, since Jerron and Jack had been completely disgraced for building the time machine. Eventually all those that could do so, attempted to ascend. It seemed like the only logical option considering we couldn't stop the spread of the disease, and had no idea how the illness had even begun. What no one was told was that some of the council members were the cause of the disease that was spreading through our people. Jack found out, and when he tried to go back and prevent it from happening, he was stopped."

"Why would they do that?" Daniel shook his head in confusion as he asked his question. "Why would they want to destroy their own kind?"

"To cover up our mistakes." Jack's simple answer left much to be desired and Carter was the first to speak up.

"What mistakes, sir?"

"Creating the Goa'uld for starters." The stunned expressions on Daniel and Carter's faces made Jack shake his head. "Weren't expecting that one were ya?"

Both nodded and Jack turned to Oma, she quickly took the hint and began to explain. "It was purely by accident that the Goa'uld were allowed to take their first hosts. A group of scientists found the planet that the Goa'uld originated on. They were little more than animals. They were like fish in a pond. The scientists began to study them, and in trying to understand how they communicated with one another, realized that the creatures could inhabit other being's bodies."

Jack jumped in seeing that Oma was going a little too slow for his liking. "Apparently the little snakes had been burrowing themselves into some of the smaller animals that came to drink the water they lived in. They figured that out when one of the animals died, and had a symbiote wrapped around its spinal cord. Needless to say they were intrigued. The scientists decided to experiment a little. There was a tribe of Unas that lived nearby; one of them came too close to the scientist's camp. They 'convinced' him to agree to let them use him for one of their experiments."

Daniel gasped. "That's insane. How could they do that?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "You'd be surprised what some people would do as long as they knew no one was looking."

Oma nodded her head in agreement, and picked up the story where Jack left off. "As Jack was saying, the Unas were used for these experiments. Unfortunately no one foresaw what happened next. The planet that they had been conducting experiments on was also heavily involved in the processing and mining of naquadah. There was an explosion in one of the mines near the water and the heat from the explosion had turned the naquadah to liquid, which contaminated the water. Most of the scientists died in the explosion and the few that did survive, abandoned their research and the planet all together."

"This was the same planet where I met Chaka?" Daniel asked as he brought his index finger up and adjusted his glasses on his face.

"Yes."

Carter, who had been shaking her head throughout the story, finally responded when she saw that Oma had reached an end. "So the Goa'uld were able to develop there, and then eventually took humans as hosts?"

"Essentially, yes. We didn't know until we returned to this galaxy, what kind of creatures the Goa'uld had become."

"Why didn't the Ancients try to stop them when they realized the Goa'uld had became such a threat?" Daniel asked as he raised his arms in the air for emphasis.

"Pride." Jack was quick to respond, and then began to explain a bit when Daniel gave him a look that clearly meant he wanted more than a one word answer. "The scientists that did the experiments knew they weren't allowed to, and admitting that they had gone against the rules would have only made them look bad."

Daniel brought his right hand up to adjust his glasses that were now wobbling precariously on the bridge of his nose. He wrinkled his brow, giving Jack a curious expression before he opened his mouth to speak.

"So getting back to my original question, they punished you so harshly because you tried to expose their plans?"

Jack stretched his long fingers across his chin and sighed as he shook his head. "Not exactly…"

> > > >

The walls of the holding cell seemed as though they were getting smaller by the moment. He groaned loudly as he leaned back against the wall furthest from the door. His eyes darted back and forth as he watched the tiny flecks of lights dance across the ceiling, as they entered the room through the small window in the door.

He could feel the others as they began to approach, and he shifted his body so that he was sitting cross-legged beside the bed. As the door opened he felt the rage begin to build inside him as two members of the Atlantian council entered.

The first man that spoke was named Boreas. He had shoulder length blond hair and an abnormally long pointy nose, which made one wonder just how he was able to see past it in order walk. He seemed to sashay forward, his robes making a swishing sound as he stepped closer to Janus. "Did you really think you could stop us?"

"The thought had crossed my mind."

The two council members began to laugh as they closed the door behind them.

"The time machine may not have been found, but the recording device that Jerron brought back with him has been destroyed." This time it was the second council member, a short dark-haired man, that looked rather like a raccoon with his beady eyes.

"You know Deygan, I've always wanted to ask…does it ever get painful having to stay so low to the ground all the time so you can lick Bore's boots?"

Deygan snarled at Janus and clenched his fists as though he was about to strike, but Boreas stepped between then and shook his head while he rolled his eyes at the man still sitting on the floor in front of him.

"You never were all that bright for all the work you did with Jerron. It wasn't all that hard to find." Boreas reached into his robe, pulled out a battered piece of metal, and tossed it to Janus. "Here's what's left of the recorder. I guess you and Jerron will never know what it's like to go to the next plane of existence. That's just too bad, now isn't it?"

Janus made a sound close to a growl as he took the beat-up device and gripped it tightly in his left hand. He stayed quiet as he scanned it, and tried to hide the shock on his face as he realized that they were telling the truth.

"How do you know I didn't copy the video feed?" He tried to sound confident, despite the despair he was feeling.

"If you had, the council would have seen it by now." Boreas squatted down, reached a hand out, rested it on Janus's shoulder, and grinned triumphantly at him. "The council agrees with me. Ascension is the best thing for our people; we have no need to deal in corporeal matters when there is so much more out there for us."

"Even if it means many of us have to die in the process?" Janus turned his head away in disgust as the two men shrugged their shoulders at him. "I guess you think it's worth it since we leave behind all our mistakes as well, right?"

"Some sacrifices must be made, Janus. Those that were lost did not do so in vain. It was for the greater good of all Lantians."

Janus shook Boreas' hand from his shoulder and clenched his fists in rage. "You won't get away with this!"

Boreas and Deygan began to laugh as they stood up. Deygan snatched the broken recorder from Janus's hand and the duo made for the door. Boreas turned back around as soon as Deygan had exited, and smiled once more at Janus.

"The council will begin your trial in one hour."

Without another word Boreas exited and Janus was left alone again. His thoughts began to wander and he cursed himself for having been caught, and for trusting Desa with his and Jerron's secret. The hour went by faster than he'd anticipated and a pair of guards came to escort him to the trial.

He was led out of the cell and down a long corridor. The corridor was softly lit as he walked through it. He saw several familiar faces through the windows of the chambers as he passed them by. The rooms were used for those Ancients that were attempting to ascend. Those attempting the Ascension were joined by another already ascended Ancient, whose purpose was to guide the unascended through the process. Janus could see that many of them were in various stages of attempting to ascend. His heart sank low in his chest knowing that many of them would not be successful, and that none of this had to happen.

Without the recording device he had no proof that the plague had been caused by Boreas and Deygan. As he slowly made his way down to the end of the corridor the urge to scream out in frustration was strong. Never before had he felt like such a failure. He'd always made it a habit to have a backup plan, but this time he had none. He was marching to certain death in front of the council, and he could do nothing but accept it.

The guards led him into the hall where his trial was to begin, and he took a deep breath as he eyed his surroundings carefully. He noticed there were very few people in the hall as he was led to the front of the room where the council members were waiting. Boreas and Deygan glared mockingly at him, as he was ordered to take a seat on the small bench in the center of the room. In front of him, forming a semi-circle, were all twelve council members. To his left were Desa along with Jerron's wife, sisters and mother, all glaring at him in confusion. To his right were four ascended beings in their glowing, tentacled form. They were to be the impartial judges.

The head of the council motioned for everyone to be silent and then began to speak once Janus had seated himself. "You have been accused of breaking the laws of our people, Janus. This trial will determine whether these accusations hold merit. Do you understand what I have said?"

Janus nodded as he answered. "Yes, I understand."

"Very well. Let us begin."

And so the trial began. Janus watched the council members as they periodically conferred with one another as the trial went on. He answered all their questions as best he could, and tried hard not to look in the direction of Desa or Jerron's family. The few times he did, his anger swelled as he saw Desa with tears in her traitorous eyes.

One of the council members was about to speak when Janus felt the soft hum of one of the Ascended using their telepathic ability to speak to everyone in the room. "What was your purpose in using this time machine?"

The question caught Janus and the council members off guard, as the Ascended had been rather quite since the trial began. Slowly, he turned towards them to respond.

"We…Jerron and I, wanted to help the humans that were left in the Pegasus Galaxy, and to see if we could go back to when the plague first broke out to find a cure. We truly meant no harm. Our intentions were true."

The ascended being seemed to glow a deep shade of blue and Janus couldn't help but think that the ascended one believed him.

The voice of one of the council members made Janus turn around. The woman stared daggers at him as she spoke. "Your intentions are not in question. It is your actions that we disagree with. All here agree that wanting to save our people and those in the Pegasus Galaxy is indeed honorable, but you defied the council by building that time machine."

"Were you able to find what you sought?" The Ascended one asked, causing the council members to gasp in surprise.

"Jerron did find information that could have helped us, but it was destroyed." Janus caught Boreas's arrogant smile at his words, and he bit back a curse and turned his attention back to the group of ascended beings.

"Can you tell us where this machine is?" One of the other ascended beings asked.

"I cannot."

"Cannot or will not?" The head of the council practically snarled the question at him, and Janus lowered his head before answering.

"I will not tell you where it is, because this council will see it destroyed just as you did the machine we built on Atlantis. I would rather face whatever punishment you see fit to give me then allow Jerron's and my work to be destroyed. This council knows we were right to do what we did. You may refuse to accept it, but that is the truth." Janus stared squarely at the head of the council as he raised his voice. "This trial is over. I will say no more. Do what you will with me."

Boreas stood to his feet and waved a finger in Janus's direction. "This trial is over when we deem it to be so. You do not make the rules here!"

"You decided I was guilty before I set foot in this room. They may be here as impartial judges," Janus pointed to the four ascended beings and then turned back to the council. "But this council is far from impartial. I will say nothing more to any of you."

Several other council members stood but were stopped in their tracks by one of the Ascended, the same one that had glowed a deep blue a few moments earlier. It moved himself between Janus and the council, allowing its energy to envelope the circular area between both parties as it began to speak.

"He is correct. This trial is concluded. We have heard all we need to hear."

"We should allow him to die like he allowed Jerron to!" Boreas shouted as the ascended being started to move back to his original place to Janus's left.

Hearing these words Janus's temper flared and he lunged forward, crossing the space between himself and the council members. He reached out with his hands and felt energy surge through him as he tried to grab at Boreas. To his surprise the Ancient not only backed away, but also pulled Deygan in front of him. The smaller man never had a chance. A light enveloped them both and the council watched in horror as Deygan's body burned and then exploded into ashes that scattered across the room.

Before anyone could react, the ascended beings moved forward and surrounded Janus with their own energy field, and the stunned man looked down at his own hands and screamed.

> > > >

"You killed him?" The confusion in Daniel's voice was clear as he shook his head at Jack.

"I really don't know what came over me, but yes. I killed him."

"How, sir? I thought only one of the Ascended had the power to do something like that." Carter too, sounded confused, and Jack sighed heavily trying to decide how to answer.

To everyone's surprise Oma replied to the colonel's question. "Even in corporeal form, an Ancient's powers can be quite strong. That was why Ascension seemed like such a viable option when the plague struck us. Before we ascended many of our people had the ability to move objects with our minds, to heal others, and in some cases to kill with merely a thought."

"I remember when Jack had the second download, he healed Bra'tak. I guess it only makes sense that that power could work in reverse." Daniel ran his hand over his chin and then pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"I couldn't even believe I'd done it." Jack's voice caught them by surprise and all of them turned in his direction. "It was almost like someone else was in control of my body. When I saw that it was Deygan I'd killed, I just started screaming. The council thought I'd lost my mind."

"What about the Ascended beings that were there? Why didn't they try and stop you?" Jack shrugged his shoulders at Carter and sighed.

"They said that in order for me to have done…what I did… I mean I literally disintegrated Deygan. They said that to do something that completely, I had put myself into a state somewhere between Ascended and corporeal. Had they intervened, neither of us would have survived."

"How is that possible?" Daniel's puzzled expression mirrored Carter's. "I may not remember much about being Ascended, but I was sure that you needed help from another Ascended being to do so."

"That is essentially true." Oma responded, seeing that Jack wasn't quite sure how to answer. "However, there are a select few that do not need assistance. Jack is one of those few, and that in part is why they chose to use the gene suppression device to strip him of his ability as part of his punishment."

Jack laughed bitterly at Oma's words. "They didn't wanna risk me actually Ascending, not that I ever wanted to in the first place."

"This goes against everything we've ever thought was true about the Ancients."

Oma nodded at Carter's comment. "We were a great race technologically speaking, but there were still many of us that were as narrow-minded and, for lack of a better word, primitive as the Tau'ri are now."

"It sounds like they were." Daniel sighed as he leaned back against the chair, and then turned to Jack with a curious expression on his face. "Why didn't you want to Ascend?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't think my people had a right to Ascend."

"I'm not sure I follow you, Jack."

Jack curled his lips and brought his hand up to chin. "When the Ancients first realized it was even possible to move to a higher plane of existence, it was an amazing concept. It was probably the single most fascinating thing we'd ever discovered, except for building the Stargate. I admit even I was intrigued by it, but we jumped into it without trying to find out what all the ramifications would be. No one knew if it was permanent, or what the effects would be if someone chose to return to their corporeal form. It wasn't until people started dying because they weren't able to complete the process that we decided to study it further."

"So the Ancients used Ascension as a means to cheat death?"

Oma and Jack smiled at how quickly the archeologist picked things up and they nodded in agreement with him.

"We feared death as much as anyone else. Ascension seemed like the perfect answer, except that not everyone was capable. Even with help, not everyone made it."

"And some got stuck in limbo, like Anubis." Jack's expression turned cold at the mention of the Goa'uld's name, and Oma lowered her head.

"Yeah, but that's only happened to a few."

Jack shook his head and sat back in his chair. "That's why those that had already ascended decided to make rules on who could and couldn't Ascend."

"But others like Oma went against those rules and helped others ?" The two Ancients nodded at Daniel, and he continued on. "So until Anubis tried, everyone that had already ascended was someone that had been helped by another to do so?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Like Desa and I said, our people were looking for anything to avoid dying, even if it meant that some of the less worthy individuals were able to ascend in the process."

"You said that there were others like Anubis that were stuck in limbo? Did anything ever happen with them?" The question seemed to catch both Jack and Oma unawares and they turned to each other with surprised looks on their faces.

Oma was the first to respond, getting a curious headshake from Jack. "Those that the others deemed worthy were allowed to fully Ascend. The rest were either kept in that state or simply sent back to the corporeal world."

There was silence for a moment and then Daniel asked the question that was burning in both his and Carter's mind. "Why wasn't Anubis sent back?"

The rest of SG-1 watched as their CO's face turned red with anger, and Oma lowered her head looking as though she were guilty of some heinous crime. Everyone in the room stayed silent waiting for a response, and just when they thought that none was forthcoming, Jack turned to Oma and spoke, the barely controlled rage clear in his voice.

"I think this one's directed at you, Desa."

"That was my fault. Anubis came to me and asked for help in Ascending…" She let her words trail off, and for a moment it seemed as though she was going to say no more, but slowly she began to speak again. "I was foolish enough to believe him, despite many warnings from Jack and others."

> > > >

It had been two days since Deygan's death. The whole of the Ancient city had yet to quit speaking of it. They were set to sentence Janus for his crime in less than an hour. Desa had managed to convince the guards to allow her a few minutes with the prisoner before that sentencing, and she was desperate for her friend's guidance. As she entered the holding cell she was surprised to see how calm Janus looked.

"What can I do for you, Desa? Surely you've done enough damage already." Janus waved her inside and nonchalantly flopped himself down on the cot and bent his arms behind his head.

"I only told the council of your plans because I feared for your and Jerron's life."

"Do you really think I want to hear your excuses! All that matters is that you betrayed us. Jerron and I trusted you and you let us down."

"You don't understand." Desa raised her arms, pleading with Janus to let her speak, but he was quick to cut her off.

"And I don't want to." Angrily Janus sat up and shook his head at the woman he once called friend. "If that's all you came for you can leave."

Desa turned to leave but stopped just before her hand reached the door. "I helped the creature ascend."

The words had barely left her lips and Janus was on his feet. He moved faster than she'd seen him move before and he was looming over her as she backed herself against the wall. He seemed to simply stare at her for a moment before moving his hand forward, as if trying to touch her, only to find that his hand passed through her as though she weren't there at all.

"You're a coward, Desa. You're just like the others. You have no idea what you've done, do you?"

"I know exactly what I've done."

Janus groaned in disgust as he brought his fist down across the wall, his hand passing through her insubstantial body as he brought it back to his side.

"I'll just bet you do." He snarled at her and turned away. "Get out."

"Janus…"

"GET OUT!" He shouted as loud as he could, suddenly the door opened, and two guards were standing ready to approach if necessary.

Desa looked over at Janus and sighed. She closed her eyes and let her corporeal form slip away. She watched Janus stand firmly with his back to her, and she slowly moved out of the room, leaving him alone.

She took herself far away, back into her new plane of existence and she screamed into the nothingness around her. Anubis had asked her to help him, and despite all the warnings from the others as well as from Janus and Jerron she had still gone ahead with it. Deep down she knew the others would never allow him to remain ascended, and she would probably be punished for aiding a creature such as that, but it didn't matter. She'd done what she thought was right, even if something about it seemed wrong.

> > > >

"So you knew you were wrong?" Oma nodded solemnly at Daniel's question as she brought her hand to rest on her chin.

"At the time, Anubis had presented himself to me as a pure and good soul. Jack and Jerron were not the first to tell me that he was lying to me, but I refused to listen. I suppose it was my own naïveté that allowed me to trust Anubis as I did."

Jack lowered his head and looked out towards the window while Daniel and Oma continued to talk. He hadn't noticed that both Carter and Teal'c were watching him closely as he waited for the archeologist and the Ascended woman to finish their discussion.

"If the other Ascended knew that Anubis was evil, I still don't understand why they didn't just send him back." Daniel sighed heavily as he looked back and forth between Oma and Jack.

The two Ancients shared a quiet glance before Oma began to speak. "He was not the first I helped to ascend, but after my mistake with Anubis, the Others decided it was best to set rules on who could and couldn't ascend. Unfortunately, allowing Anubis to remain in his current state was my punishment."

Jack, upon seeing the pained expression on Oma's face, reached a hand out and laced his fingers between hers. She nodded at the gentle touch. "She was supposed to be an example to anyone that interfered the way she had."

"How could they do that? Especially seeing what he's done to countless beings across the galaxy. That makes no sense." Carter's voice was raised as she sat straight up in her chair.

Daniel nodded in agreement with her. "Don't they care that Anubis is destroying everything in this galaxy? They have the power to stop him."

"That they do Dannyboy, but they won't…" The anger was clearly written on Jack's face as he paused to take a breath, obviously trying to gain control of his emotions.

"Jack is correct. The Others will not stop him. This is all part of my punishment."

"But this is more than just punishing you. They're allowing everyone in our galaxy to be punished along with you." Carter shook her head trying to understand what Oma and Jack were saying, but is was apparent that she didn't.

There was a pregnant silence in the room before Daniel attempted to speak up. He looked as though a light had burst in his mind as he opened his mouth and then closed it, repeating the action a few times before any sound came out.

"So you're punishment was to watch while Anubis roamed free. Being powerless to stop the destruction, and knowing that if you hadn't interfered none of it would have happened."

Oma nodded a silent reply and looked away from the group.

"That's just cruel. How could they do that?" Carter barely managed to keep her voice below a shout as she looked from Jack to Oma and back, wanting a response.

"They were doing what they felt was right. My people…" Oma barely had the words out of her mouth when Jack groaned and pushed himself back from the table in disgust.

"Our people were wrong! What they did to you was petty and cruel!"

Oma winced at his words and shook her head. "That is not true. It's not as though they allowed Anubis to do anything he pleased. There are limits to what he can and cannot do."

"What limits are those?" Daniel asked, jumping into the conversation before Jack had a chance to say anything.

"Anubis can only do things that he would have been able to do as a Goa'uld. He's not allowed to use any knowledge he's gained through his attempt at Ascension." Jack growled at her answer, stood up and walked to the window. "I know you disapprove of what the Others did, but I accepted my punishment because I believed it to be just."

"Then you're more of a fool than I thought. They let that bastard run around destroying most of this galaxy, just to make you suffer. If you think that's just, then you have no concept of what that word means. Making you suffer is just another way for the Others to show how cowardly they really are."

"How can you say that, Janus!" Jack spun around at the use of his real name, and his eyes flared with anger.

"For this superior race that the Ancients were supposed to be, we never were able to accept responsibility for our own mistakes. They made you pay for their own mistake of allowing anyone to Ascend. The Others forced you to suffer for 10,000 years, because they couldn't admit that they were wrong to use Ascension as an escape. Others like you and I have been forced to pay for their mistakes because we didn't want to turn tail and run, like our so called 'enlightened' people did."

"Our people truly meant no harm in choosing to leave the corporeal world behind…" Jack cut her off with an icy glare and Daniel and the others watched in silent surprise as their CO stood and shook his head vehemently at Oma.

"Whether it was intentional or not, we were responsible for countless disasters that had been occurring for centuries. The council members thought that if they took our people out of the equation that things would correct themselves and that some natural order of the universe would balance things out. From their higher plane of existence they could monitor things and step in only if necessary as long as no species development was interfered with in any way." Carter and Daniel raised their eyebrows in tandem at Jack's explanation, neither quite sure what to say.

"How could they think that disappearing would be an accurate response?" Oma and Jack both shook their heads at Daniel and the younger man sighed.

"That really makes no sense. They thought running away was going to fix it all?" Carter looked ready to pull her hair out as she and Daniel both tried to make sense of what Jack and Oma were telling them.

Jack lowered his head, the look of disgust clear on his face. "My people weren't the great beings you think they were. They were really no different than humans are now, except that they'd become more technologically and I suppose biologically advanced."

Another few hours passed, and night gave way to day. The sunlight crept through the kitchen window as Jack looked over at the clock on the far wall. He sighed heavily not realizing that so much time had passed. He and Oma had spent the rest of the night trying to explain things to Daniel and the others. They'd gone on to explain about the Wraith, and the real danger they posed to Earth. Finally, his team had asked all the questions they could think of and he and Oma had answered them the best they could. With a relieved sigh he stood up and stretched his legs out and the others followed suit.

Oma left them shortly after and Jack was alone with his three teammates. Not surprising Daniel and Carter were hastily trying to leave.

"Are we okay, guys?" Jack asked trying to hide the nervous twitch of his mouth as he spoke.

"Jack, this was all a big surprise…" Daniel started to speak as he reached a hand out to his friend. "I'll admit I was less than thrilled to find out you'd lied to us all these years, but we're going to be just fine."

The archeologist looked at Carter and the colonel nodded in agreement. "We just need a little time to digest all this information, sir."

"So you two don't hate me?" He hated sounding like so weak, but the bond between Jack and his team had been what had kept him sane these last few years and he couldn't stand the thought of it being ruined in any way.

"Never Jack." Daniel squeezed Jack's arm and smiled softly. "You've done too much for us to ever hate you. We may be a little irked that you kept us in the dark, but we'll get over that eventually."

"What Daniel said, sir." Carter added, as she too reached out a hand and touched Jack's shoulder reassuring her CO with a smile of her own.

tbc...


	2. Consequences and Catastrophes

Chapter 2: Consequences and Catastrophes

Daniel, Teal'c and Carter sat across from Jack in his office as they went over their plan to help the Atlantis expedition team. They'd managed to formulate a plan, but it had a few flaws to it, and working out the kinks was turning out to be a tedious job for SG-1.

"So Colonel Everett has agreed to take a team through the gate?" Carter asked and the general nodded in response. "Has his team been chosen, sir?"

"It's not finalized, but he's asked for two SG teams to go with him, and I'm considering approving them. I don't know if that will be enough though. We don't know for sure what Weir's team is facing, and I don't know if those two teams will be enough to hold off the Wraith ships long enough for the Daedalus to arrive."

Jack watched as his former 2IC fidgeted in her seat just a bit, something he'd long ago learned to interpret as 'Carter has something more to add, but she's not sure she wants to jump in and say it yet.' With a shake of his head and a smirk, he motioned for her to speak.

"Sir, how are we going to send a team through the gate and get the Daedalus to Atlantis at the same time? We need a ZPM to run the ship and open the gate. We can't do both. The ZPM for the ship is fully charged but if the Daedalus leaves before we send Everett's team we have no way to warn Atlantis help is on the way and prevent them from possibly destroying the city."

The general listened to Carter speak and slowly nodded in agreement. "If only we had a second ZPM…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow as Jack let his sentence trail off, and Carter curled her bottom lip as she tried to figure out what her CO was saying.

"Do you know of another power source that we can acquire?" With a smirk Jack shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't tell you where another Zero Point Module is." He moved his eyes upward and the two members of SG-1 stared blankly at him.

Daniel shook his head with and glared knowingly at Jack. "What you mean to say is that the Others will step in if you tell us where another power source is."

"See you did pick up some knowledge while you were all glowy." The General smiled widely and Daniel rolled his eyes in response.

"Well, how does that help us?" Carter asked, not bothering to hide her displeasure.

"It means that if there were another ZPM on Earth I can't tell you where it is."

"But there is one here on Earth?" Jack smirked at Daniel's question and the confusion on Carter's face as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe."

Both Daniel and Carter groaned loudly at the general's answer, while Teal'c sat stoically watching his teammates struggle with their frustration. A moment later Jack dismissed the team; they retreated from his office making their way down the corridor, and going their separate ways once they reached the elevators.

An hour later, Daniel burst into Carter's lab, a folder in hand, and Carter stared blankly as the archeologist began to babble at her in a language that sounded very much like English, only it was spoken so rapidly she could only make a out a word or two here and there. Finally, she put her hand up to stop him and he froze in his tracks.

"Haven't you heard a word I've said?"

Carter laughed softly and nodded. "I could hear you, Daniel, but you were going a little fast. How about we start again, and you speak at a regular pace."

Daniel took a deep breath as Carter motioned for him to take the chair across from her. "I think I know where the ZPM is, or at least how to find it."

"How could you possibly know?"

"I've been thinking about this. I went over some research I'd been doing just before Dr Weir left for Atlantis. There were some writings found at a dig site just outside of Abydos about a year and a half ago…" Carter waved her hand for him to skip to the important part and he nodded. "There were several tombs that were found. They were all for members of a sect of priests and healers that lived around the Abydos area in Egypt several thousand years ago. There was a story about a sacred object that was worshiped by them before Ra took over Earth. I never thought much of it, but when I looked at some of the photographs of the wall and the writing, I came across a drawing of the object."

Daniel opened the folder and handed a photograph to Carter. "It looks like a ZPM."

"Exactly. The Abydonians worshipped the object, saying it was given to them by the gods to protect. It was lost soon after Ra arrived. They saw Ra's coming as a punishment for them not protecting the sacred relic."

"If it was lost to them, how do you know where it is?"

"I don't think it was ever lost in the first place." Again Carter stared blankly at Daniel, not sure how he come to that conclusion. "I think the Abydonians hid it when Ra came into power on Earth."

"What makes you say that?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "What better way to protect something you believe to be sacred than put it where it can't be found? It stands to reason that before Ra got here, that no humans knew how to use a Stargate, so more than likely they would have hidden the ZPM somewhere on Earth where they thought Ra wouldn't be able to find it."

Carter raised an eyebrow and shook her head in disagreement with Daniel's theory. "That would imply that they knew Ra was coming beforehand, Daniel?"

"I realize this is gonna sound pretty farfetched, but I think that may be a possibility."

The colonel's jaw nearly hit the floor as she listened to her teammate speak, and in disbelief she sighed and brought her hand up to her forehead. "Okay, I'll bite. How did you reach that conclusion?"

"Something Jack said the other night." When Daniel saw that Carter was still confused he continued. "Ok, hear me out. Jack was left on Earth to live as a human, right?"

"Yes, but what does that…"

Daniel quickly cut her off and went with his explanation. "Jack said he lived in Egypt when Ra enslaved Earth. He said he'd watched the people and how much they had to suffer, and him along with them. He may not have been able to physically intervene when Ra came to Earth, but he knew the ZPM was here, and he knew where Ancient technology was here on Earth. To use either one would have brought the Others in to stop him. In order for that not to happen, all he would have had to do is convince the priests to hide the ZPM, by telling them some tale about impending doom or something, and it would have been safe from the Goa'uld ever finding it."

"You're still losing me on how the general could have known that Ra was on his way."

"The timing, Sam. Jack's said that he'd only been in exile on the planet for a couple of years before Ra and the other Goa'ulds arrived. He had to know that the Goa'uld would eventually make their way to Earth. That left him plenty of time to make sure that he could keep as much Ancient technology safe from any Goa'uld that might come along."

Carter nodded and then skeptically asked. "So where do you think it is?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I know it's got to be on Earth, or Jack wouldn't have made his cryptic little comment while we were in his office. A power source like that would have to give off some kind of energy reading or something right?"

The colonel's eyes widened in surprise as she nodded at Daniel, "Yes, all we have to do is scan the planet for a power source that matches the type of energy reading a ZPM would give off. Unless the power is depleted, it should be detectable."

"Considering it was only taken out for ceremonial purposes, I don't think it would have been used at all."

The two teammates smiled at one another and rose to their feet. They were readying to go to Jack's office when Teal'c appeared at the door.

"I have come to make a request of you both." They stopped in their tracks at Teal'c's words and waited for him to continue. "Master Bra'tak has arrived and is asking for SG-1's assistance."

"With what Teal'c?" Daniel asked as the three of them moved back to the chairs in Carter's lab.

"Bra'tak is to meet with Raknor to gain information on Ba'al's fleet. He wishes us to accompany him."

The three team members looked at one another and nodded in agreement. Within an hour they were geared up and standing at the gate, waiting for a wormhole to engage. Once it did they stepped through, stopping only briefly to see the general sending them off with a wave.

> > > >

General O'Neill walked quietly from the room once he'd seen his flagship team off. They'd told him just before they left that there was something they need to talk to him about when they returned and he wondered if they'd figured out where the ZPM was. He was quite certain that his two geniuses would be able to solve the mystery, given enough time and patience. His main concern at the moment was that they got back from their mission with Bra'tak in one piece. It was hard to tell sometimes with the way the Jaffa rebellion was going; there was a good chance that things wouldn't turn out well. Sighing heavily, the general continued down the hall.

He made it to his office a few minutes later, and was just starting to sift through some paper work that Walter had left on his desk earlier in the day, when he decided he was hungry. Quickly he got to his feet and started for the elevators to go up to the commissary. The elevators were just coming into view as he turned the corner, when the klaxons sounded and Jack could hear Walter's voice call out over the loudspeakers.

"Unscheduled off-world activation!"

Sighing he turned around from his position near the elevator and started back towards the control room. He got there just as the Tok'ra IDC was being received and he immediately walked into gate room, smiling as Jacob Carter stepped through the event horizon.

"How's it going?" He asked cheerfully, but the look on the older man's face told him he wasn't here for a happy occasion.

"We have a problem."

Jack rolled his eyes and groaned slightly. "When don't we? You could at least say hi before you jump into the melodrama."

"Hi Jack, How's it going? Congrats on the promotion. You deserved it." Jacob feigned a smile as he spoke and when Jack nodded in response he continued. "The Replicators have launched an all out attack on the Goa'uld. If we don't find a way to stop them the Replicators will overrun this galaxy in a matter of weeks."

"Why didn't you say this before?"

Jacob sighed and shook his head at the SGC general as he was ushered away from the gate and towards the briefing room. "I said we have a problem."

"You said problem, Jacob. You didn't say it was an intergalactic emergency."

Without another word the two men made their way to the briefing room, and took their seats at the rather large table as Jacob began to explain in detail what was going on with the Replicators.

"So I take it the Tok'ra don't know you're here?"

Jacob lowered his head so that his symbiote could speak. "Our relationship with the council is still quite strained. The Tau'ri may be the last line of defense against the Replicators." Selmak lowered his head so that Jacob could once again take control. "The Goa'uld are, for all intents and purposes, getting their asses kicked. They have no way of stopping these things. More of their forces are being destroyed as we speak."

"What exactly are you thinking we can do?"

"I was hoping that the disrupter device might be of some use."

Jack sighed and shook his head. The two talked for another hour or so about what the possibilities were for going up against the Replicators. Finally, the two generals slipped into a companionable silence with one another as they weighed their options in the minds. Jack was about to speak when the klaxons sounded once again and both men were on their feet and heading towards the gate in flash.

Two members of SG-1, along with Bra'tak came running through the gate, and Jack stared blankly at them for a moment before speaking.

"Back so soon? What happened? And…where is Daniel? I know he left with you."

"We were attacked by the Replicators." Teal'c began to speak and Bra'tak finished. "He was beamed away before our very eyes."

"We were only able to escape because the Replicators didn't seem all that interested in the rest of us, sir."

Jack stared at his former 2IC and then his eyes looked from Teal'c to Bra'tak. The three of them appeared genuinely confused at what had occurred. He nodded silently and ushered them from the gate room, and down the hall. Sam and her father greeted one another with a hug and then followed the other three out of the room. They gave the general a full briefing once they reached the briefing room, and proceeded to brainstorm their options for their next move.

Teal'c and Bra'tak suggested organizing an attack by the rebel Jaffa to try and over take the holy city on the planet Dakara. Jack was hesitant, but once he'd heard their explanation he agreed it was worth a try. Carter had contacted Thor for help with the disruptor device and was subsequently beamed aboard the High Commander's ship once it was in Earth's orbit. Jacob and Jack were left alone on base to try and come up with any other possible options.

To Jack's surprise Ba'al contacted the SGC requesting help to fight the Replicators, and Jack took great pleasure in telling the system lord just what he could do with this request. Jacob was quick to question the General's decision.

"What the hell are you doing, Jack? I know you hate him, but…"

"But nothing Jacob. If we help him, Teal'c and Bra'tak won't have a chance. They're counting on Ba'al and his forces being too busy fighting the Replicators to notice them taking over the temple on Dakara."

The Tok'ra sighed in frustration and shook his head. "The Jaffa rebellion is as good as dead. It's pointless to try and give them time to win an impossible battle."

"It's not impossible, and even if it is…they deserve a chance to fight for their freedom."

"Even at the expense of the freedom of an entire galaxy?"

Jack could understand Jacob's frustration, but he didn't agree with the Tok'ra. He had fought side-by-side with the Jaffa for the last few years, and he knew full well their cause was as just as any. Deep down he knew that Jacob was right to want him to help Ba'al, but he also knew that he had to give Teal'c and the other Jaffa as much time as he possibly could.

He rested his head against the cold, flat surface of his desk, as he contemplated just what was going to happen in this upcoming battle. Everything in him said that it was going to be a turning point, one way or another, not only for Earth but for the Jaffa and Tok'ra as well. As he sat alone in the quiet solace of his office he felt Oma's presence drift into the room.

"What now?" He asked, not trying to hide the irritation in his voice.

"Have I come at a bad time?"

"There's a lot going on right now."

"I apologize, but I've come to warn you that Daniel's life is in danger." Oma moved so that she was standing directly in front of Jack's desk.

Jack shook his head. "I figured as much. We already know the Replicators have him."

"Then you know what they want from him?"

"Yes. The Carter look-alike wants to know if there's anything out there that can stop her and her little bugs from taking over the galaxy."

"Do you believe the Jaffa can hold the city if they are able to take control of it?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I know Teal'c and Bra'tak would die before they gave it up, but I don't know how long they'll last if the Replicators find their way there."

"You believe that Daniel will tell the Replicators of the city?"

"I don't think he'll have a choice. These new Replicators are more advanced and he doesn't have the ability to block them from entering his mind completely." Jack lowered his head into his hands, and sighed heavily. "I know I shouldn't ask this, but…can you…"

He left the question hanging, but she knew what he meant and immediately she shook her head. "You know I cannot interfere. Other than possibly helping him Ascend if the Replicators try to kill him…"

"I know, but I had to ask."

"I would do the same. I know what he means to you, Jack. They all mean so much to you." Jack shook his head and Oma gave him a reassuring smile. "If I can I will go to him, though I fear the Others may be watching. They may try to stop me."

With a groan Jack slammed his fists down across the desk. He opened his mouth to speak, but he knew that Oma was already gone. His only hope was that she would be able to get to Daniel before it was too late.

> > > >

Jacob knocked softly on the door before opening it and popping his head inside. Jack was quick to wave him inside, and the two generals sat quietly at Jack's desk for a moment. The Tok'ra was the first to break the disturbing silence between the two men.

"I can tell you're worried about them."

Jack shook his head and sighed heavily. "They're still my team, even if I don't get to go on missions with them anymore. I'm allowed to worry."

"Trust me, I know what you mean. I've led my own share of teams before, Jack."

"There are days when I really hate this desk. Today is definitely one of them."

Jacob nodded in understanding. "Have to say, it's better than retiring."

With a groan the SGC leader lowered his head, brought his hands to his temples, and began to rub circles into the warm flesh.

"I know they can take care of themselves, at least for the most part; and I have no doubt that you and Sam can find that weapon, if the Jaffa haven't already. Teal'c has always handled himself well, and he's so focused on his goal now that there's little that could stop him from reaching it…" The general's voice trailed off, not wanting to say that the one he was worried most for was Daniel. He could tell by the sympathetic look on the Tok'ra's face that he already knew what he meant.

"Daniel will be fine. That boy is the original 'comeback kid.'" Jacob smirked and shook his head. "No one's come back from the dead near as many times as Dr. Jackson."

The mere mention of death left Jack's face pale, and he sighed heavily. "I'm worried he may be out of 'get out of death free' cards. He's used up more lives than most cats."

Jacob was about to speak when there was a knock on the door. Sam came inside and a few minutes later she and Jacob were on their way to Dakara to search for the Ancient weapon, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts, and the overwhelming seed of doubt that was beginning to form in the pit of his stomach.

His doubts were quickly cast aside as the immediacy of the situation came crashing down on him. He knew he had to get through this latest disaster involving the Replicators, if he ever hoped to see Daniel or the rest of SG-1 again. Putting his fears aside he focused on what he could do from his place on Earth, and waited for the rest to take care of itself.

The next few days went by in hazy blur. With Daniel being kidnapped by the Replicators, and the war with Anubis escalating, Jack hardly had time to breath. He'd sent Carter and Teal'c along with Jacob and Bra'tak to try and find as well as destroy an Ancient weapon that Anubis wanted to get his snaky hands on. The whole thing had turned out to be a near disaster, with Replicators nearly overrunning the base. Luckily, the weapon had worked in their favor and the Replicators had been completely eliminated, or at least both Carters were certain that had been the case.

Thankfully, Teal'c and Sam had come through their ordeal on Dakara unscathed. The Replicators were destroyed, at least as far as this galaxy was concerned, and SG-1 was nearly complete. Jack was able to breathe a small sigh of relief knowing that half of his team was safe and sound, and as soon as Daniel was back on base he would be able to relax.

For now Daniel was missing, and Jack was going insane trying to figure out where he was. He could tell that Carter was already thinking the archeologist was dead, and that was the logical assumption. As far as they knew Daniel had been aboard the Replicator ship when it was destroyed, in which case he would have had no way to escape, but Jack knew that couldn't be true. Since Daniel had ascended over a year ago, Jack had been able to sense the younger man's presence, and even when Daniel was off world he could feel him. No, Jack was certain that wherever Daniel was, he was still alive.

In the meantime, Jack had another pressing concern to deal with besides his missing archeologist. Since their return from Dakara, Jack had sensed a problem with Jacob and his symbiote Selmak. It had only been a day, but the Tok'ra had made himself unusually scarce. While that was not usually a concern to the SGC leader, it was disconcerting to him because Selmak had not spoken up once even during the debriefing. It wasn't like the Tok'ra to remain completely silent.

Seeing an opportunity, Jack decided to do a little covert Tok'ra watching. After a day of observation, Jack pulled the former general into his office.

"What's up Jack? I'm supposed to meet Sam in half an hour. She's bringing her fiancé to meet me." The devilish grin on Jacob's face wasn't lost on Jack and he shook his head, knowing full well the fatherly treatment he was sure that Jacob had in mind for his baby girl's husband-to-be.

"I forgot you hadn't had a chance to meet Pete yet. He's a great guy. I'm sure you and Selmak will love him." Jacob nodded and both men took their seats in the chairs in front of Jack's desk. "Speaking of Selmak, he's been awfully quiet lately. You two have an argument?"

The Tok'ra host raised an eyebrow, but Jack didn't miss the concern in Jacob's eyes. "No, he's just tired. There's been a lot going on the last few days, to say the least."

For a moment Jack was silent, and he stared directly into the other man's eyes. It was obvious he was hiding something, and that unnerved the general to no end. Without drawing attention to himself, Jack used his limited Ancient powers to scan Jacob. He held back a gasp when he felt how weak Selmak was. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Tok'ra was very ill, and if Jack was right he was keeping it quiet for a reason.

The two men chatted for a few minutes more, and then Jacob left so he could meet with Sam and Pete. A few hours later Jack led himself down the hall to where he knew Sam and Jacob were having lunch. He saw them seated across from one another and walked over to greet them.

"How'd the meet-and-greet go? I'm guessing since Pete isn't in the infirmary, all is well?"

Jacob laughed heartily at Jack's joke, but Sam curled her lips in a gesture meant to suggest she was less than amused by her CO's comment.

"He's nice, and as long as he makes my Sammie happy, then that's all that matters." Sam blushed at her father's nickname for her being used in front of her CO and slowly turned her head trying to look away.

"Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you both in private when you get done here."

Sam tried not to seem alarmed by the expression on Jack's face, but she was pretty sure she was doing a poor job when the general shook his head at her.

"Can you meet me in my office in twenty?"

Both nodded and Jack stood to leave. He made his way to his office in record time and sat quietly contemplating how he was going to bring up the subject of Selmak being sick, without upsetting Jacob or Sam. In no time at all the twenty minutes had passed and Jacob and his former 2IC quietly entered his office, closing the door behind them as they did.

"So what did you need to see us for, Jack?"

He took a deep breath and then stood from his chair and walked around the desk and leaned back against edge of the wooden frame.

"I wasn't sure if I should bring this up, but I'm concerned about you Jacob."

The former general smiled and nodded his head in confusion. "I'm touched, Jack, but why are you concerned?"

Jack stared fixedly at Jacob as he spoke. "You're sick, or at least Selmak is."

"What!" Sam's voice was louder than she'd intended and both men turned in her direction in surprise.

"What I don't get is why you're hiding it?"

"How can you know that?" Jacob sank back in his chair and lowered his head.

Jack looked first at Sam and then with a sighed he answered. "I can sense the sickness in you. It's coming from Selmak, but it's pretty rapidly taking over you."

"Dad?" Sam managed to find her voice again, but the defeated look on her father's face made her look away in shock. "He's right?"

"I don't understand how you knew, Jack?"

Sam shook her head as she looked up at Jack. He nodded at her and she reached out and took her father's hand in hers. "The general is an Ancient."

Jacob looked from his daughter to Jack and shook his head in confusion. "You mean like residual effects from the last Ancient download?"

"No, Jacob." The Tok'ra host opened his mouth to speak, but Jack raised a hand to stop him. "It's a very long story, but suffice to say, I'm an actual Ancient."

Jacob's face was ashen in disbelief and he pulled his hand from Sam's grasp. "I don't believe it."

Shaking his head Jack stood to his full height and walked a few steps so that he was standing directly in front of the former general. Silently he knelt down, placed a hand on the other man's chest, and closed his eyes. Jacob could feel a slight surge go through him as Jack's fingertips touched his shirt, and he tried to back away, but felt himself held in place by what he could only describe as an invisible force of some kind.

"He's telling the truth, Dad. As insane as it sounds, it's true."

"How else would I know that Selmak's been sick for weeks. He's barely alive now." Jack opened his eyes and stared directly at Jacob. "You're dying too."

Sam gasped and reached for her father again, and this time the Tok'ra host stared open-mouthed at his daughter and the man he'd come to call friend. A tear rolled down Sam's cheek as Jack's words hit her.

"He can't be dying. Not now. What about Selmak?"

"He doesn't have enough strength. I didn't want to ruin things. I knew your wedding was coming up, and I thought I'd be okay." Jacob turned to Jack. "I'm not gonna make it that long am I?"

Jack smirked. "You will if I have any say in it."

"You can heal him?" Sam asked as she gripped her father's hand tighter. "Selmak too?"

"I can't guarantee anything, but I should have enough strength to save Jacob at least."

There's a moment of silence before anyone spoke, and to Jack's surprise it was Sam that broke the silence with a question. "Won't the other Ascended try and stop you?"

"I have no idea. As far as I know, Carter, they have no idea I've been able to regain any of my power."

Jacob's expression was beyond confusion as he listened to the his daughter and the general go back and forth for a moment longer, then finally he put his hand out to stop them.

"I have no idea what you all are talking about, but if you can help Selmak and me, Jack. We would be more than grateful."

Jack nodded and took a deep breath before moving both hands so that they were positioned over Jacob's chest. He closed his eyes, reached out with his mind, and began to heal Selmak. He could feel the symbiote wake with a start and he softly began to speak with Selmak telepathically.

/Easy, now. I'm trying to help. You and Jacob are in pretty bad shape./

/O'Neill? I do not understand/

/I promise I'll explain everything, or get Sam to do it once you're feeling up to hearing the whole story. Rest now, so I can work./

A moment later Selmak was silent and Jack continued to work. Sam watched as a faint light emanated from her CO's hands as he attempted to heal her father. Silently, she prayed that his intervention would be enough to save the father she'd only come to know over the last few years.

Suddenly, she stared panic-struck as her father slumped back in his seat, obviously unconscious, while Jack continued to work. She could see the perspiration pouring down the general's face and before she could react he too slumped backwards, slipping into a state of unconsciousness.

"General! Dad!" She shouted frantically as she checked for pulses on both men. She was inches away from grabbing the phone and calling for a medical team, when a light erupted into the room, and Oma's familiar presence materialized before her.

"They will both survive." The Ascended woman said calmly as she leaned down and ran her hand over, first Jacob, and then Jack.

"Are you sure? Let me call the infirmary." Sam reached for the phone, but Oma shook her head.

"To do so would only force Jack to expose himself further. Give them a few minutes. They will regain consciousness quite soon." There's was an odd tone in Oma's voice, and Sam couldn't help but think that the Ancient was less than thrilled about Jack's latest foray into the powers of the Ancients.

They waited together for a few minutes, and just as Oma had said the two men began to stir. Jack was first and he blinked a few times trying to register his surroundings.

"Desa? What happened?" His voice was weak but he managed to speak as he slowly sat up and propped himself against the side of his desk.

"You foolish man." Oma shook her head, though her tone was light. "You weren't quite ready to use your powers in such a manner. You're lucky the Others didn't step in and prevent you from helping him. They now know of your new found abilities."

Jack could tell by her tone of voice that she was not happy with him. "I take it they aren't pleased?"

"They sent me to warn you. Another interference such as this and they will be forced to stop you. They only allowed it this time, because they did not wish to expose themselves to everyone on this base."

"Did it work?" Finally looking over at the chair where Jacob was seated; Jack started to get to his feet, but was slowed by the jello-like feeling in his legs.

"I think it did, sir. Dad says that Selmak was healed almost completely and he's working on healing them both now." Sam's smile told Jack all he needed to know and he leaned back against the desk, gripping the wood tightly as he balanced himself.

"If he can walk, you should get him to the infirmary." Carter nodded and helped her father to his feet and the two left the office, leaving Jack alone with Oma.

"The Others are not pleased with what you've done. You've alerted them to your presence. I was going to offer Daniel Ascension again, but now that is impossible. They will never allow it. I'll be lucky if they allow me to search for him now."

The fuzziness in Jack's mind began to fade, and Oma's words began to make sense to him. Silently, he cursed himself for not thinking it through more before he acted on Jacob's behalf. In doing so he had possibly put Daniel's life in jeopardy.

With that Oma disappeared leaving Jack alone in his office. Silently he buried his head in his hands and let the cold feel of the desk cool his warm skin, listening to the clock on his wall tick away, each tick feeling like a second he was taking from Daniel's life.

> > > >

Daniel opened his eyes to find himself alone. He was in a simple looking room, four white walls, no windows, a door a few yards ahead of him, and a soft light above him. There was no other furniture except for the small cot he was resting on. Slowly he pulled himself to a sitting position, and grimaced at the sharp pain in his chest. The last thing he remembered was being on the Replicator ship talking to the duplicate Carter. He brought his left hand up and he could feel a scar forming in the exact spot the Carter-Replicator had stabbed him.

"What's going on?" He realized no one was there to answer his question, but asking out loud seemed to ease his tension a bit.

As if on cue, the door to the room opened and a frail figure of a man entered. He wore pale blue robes, similar to the ones Daniel was wearing, but as skinny as he was the robes sagged on him, making him look like a child playing dress-up.

"Who are you?" Daniel asked trying to keep the confusion out of his voice, though he was sure he had failed on that one.

"I am Tenal. I am an Outcast like the one you call Oma Desala." Tenal opened his arms and Daniel watched as the small man was enveloped in light and then just as suddenly he returned to his human-like form.

"Nice to meet you, but what exactly am I doing here? I need to get back to Earth."

Tenal shook his head as he came closer. "At the present moment you are…stuck here."

"What exactly do you mean stuck here? I don't even know where here is!"

"The Others have trapped you here. You are in a state somewhere between being ascended and being human." Tenal sighed and looked away. "I am afraid it is partly my fault. I have never been as strong as many of my kind tend to be. The Others stopped me before I could help you ascend fully."

"I thought I died on the Replicator ship. How is it that you decided to help me ascend?"

"I felt your presence on the ship just as it was being destroyed. I was on my way to see Oma Desala, but I could not resist finding out who you were." Tenal let a curious smile ghost across his lips and then quickly let it fade. "Your strength drew me in. I believe you tried to ascend on your own, but you were not strong enough to complete the task. I tried to assist you, and that is when the Others intervened."

"Why didn't I just die when the Others interfered?"

The skinny Ancient shrugged his shoulders as he answered. "I do not know."

Daniel groaned in frustration. "Do you know how I can get out of here?"

Tenal shook his head in silent reply and slowly backed away at the irritated growl Daniel let loose in response.

> > > >

A few days passed, and Jack was somewhat hesitant to ask Oma to look for Daniel, knowing that to do so would be a risk for her. She was already taking a great enough risk by being on Earth and trying to help the Tau'ri in their battle with the Goa'uld. In the end he did ask, and wasn't at all surprised when she said no.

"I can't interfere anymore!" She shouted as Jack brought his hands up to protest. "If I do the Others will stop me."

"You already have! Don't you see? I know Daniel isn't dead. You stepped in to try and help him didn't you? I don't know why you did it, but I'm grateful."

Oma sighed and shook her head. "I had nothing to do with it. It was another Outcast that saved him."

Jack turned his head to stare at Oma, the confusion clear on his face. "What? Who?"

"His name is Tenal."

The name sounded vaguely familiar to him, and he silently scanned his mind trying to place where he knew this outcast from.

"Why does that name sound familiar?" He asked himself not realizing he'd spoken aloud, until Oma's soft chuckle caught his attention.

"He was a scientist that helped with one of Jerron's experiments on Atlantis."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise, "I didn't realize he was an Outcast."

Again Oma chuckled and then shook her head. "Over the last century, much has changed among the Others, more and more have joined the Outcasts. This little rebellion the Tau'ri began a decade ago has done much to increase our numbers."

Closing her eyes Oma reached out telepathically, and joined her mind and Jack's to the other Outcasts. A shiver passed through Jack as he felt the presence of the other Outcasts surround him. At first it was merely a jumble of voices, but then their words became clear.

He gasped as the realization hit him. "We did this didn't we?"

Oma nodded a silent reply to his question and then opened her eyes.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

The Ancient woman stared blankly at Jack and shook her head. "No."

"If we can convince this many that the Others are wrong, we can stop them."

Oma let out a frustrated cry and buried her head in her hands. "You've truly lost your mind!"

Jack shook his head vehemently as he began to speak. "No, I haven't. I felt all of the Outcasts, Desa. We almost outnumber the Others. We're strong enough that we could stop them if we really tried."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"The same way they made us Outcasts. They've spent thousands of years hiding in their higher plane. They can't even admit to creating the Goa'uld, the Replicators, and the Wraith. They've stood back and watched while the humans were destroyed, without showing even a shred of remorse at their own culpability. Ascendeds, Ancients, Altantians, we're not better than the humans, and we don't have the right to place ourselves above them. Our people left the humans to suffer and deal with our mistakes and we shouldn't have. The council knew that."

She couldn't deny the truth in his words, but the implications of them sent a shiver through her. "You're willing to risk a war between our kind just to help the Tau'ri?"

Jack took a deep breath before answering her, and he made quite certain the tone of his voice left no trace of hesitance. "The humans, the Tau'ri are our descendants. One day they'll evolve into us. We owe them better than what we've given them. I don't want a war. All I want is for us as a species to admit to what we did, and maybe even try to fix it. If that means war, then so be it."

Oma opened her mouth to speak, but Jack raised a hand to stop her. "Let me ask you this…Why have you been helping the humans, if not for the same reason? Deep down you had to know something like this might happen?"

Lowering her head she looked away. It was a difficult truth to hear, and an even more difficult one to accept. As she brought her head back up she saw the set expression on Jack's face and she knew without a doubt that he was right. This was inevitable. It was set in motion the day the council infected their people with the deadly disease. Now all that was left was for them to finish it.

> > > >

Daniel ran his fingers through his hair as his eyes scanned the room. The silence surrounding him was beginning to unnerve the archeologist as he began to tap on the wall with his fingers. A moment later Tenal walked back into the room, the anxious look on his face making Daniel sigh heavily.

"What's going on?"

"The Others have decided that you should be put on trial."

Raising an eyebrow in confusion Daniel stood up from his seat on the floor. "On trial for what?"

"To determine if you she should be allowed to complete your Ascension."

Tenal moved closer and took a seat on the cot, while Daniel shook his head and sat back down in the corner on the floor. "I don't get it. If I couldn't do it on my own then what good is a trial going to be?"

"If the verdict goes in your favor, the Others will assist you in the process." The fragile looking Ascended man meekly answered as he let his hands come to rest on his lap.

"I shouldn't be here. My friends are out there somewhere, they could need my help."

Tenal shook his head. "Your friends are well. They are concerned for your well-being, but they are indeed well."

"How do you know?"

Before he could respond, there was knock at the door and Daniel's head shot up as the door swung open to reveal Oma Desala.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel stood up and moved towards her as he spoke.

"I've come to help you…that is if you desire my assistance."

"Help me with what?"

Oma smiled softly and motioned for Daniel to take a seat. Hesitantly, he did as he she wanted and sat next to Tenal on the cot.

"Have you told him about the trial?" She turned to Tenal who silently nodded in response. "According to the laws of the Ascended, anyone put on trial is allowed to have an Ascended speak on their behalf."

"Like a lawyer or something?"

"Basically, yes. If you will allow it, I will do this for you."

Daniel paused for a moment and then nodded his head. "Alright, but I still don't get why this is happening. I don't even remember trying to Ascend, let alone not being able to."

Oma lowered her head and sighed heavily. "You must have had the strength inside you, whether you knew it or not."

"If you say so."

A moment later Oma stood, moved towards the door, and motioned for Daniel to follow. "You are to be moved to the waiting area until the trial begins. I will show you the way."

She pointed him towards the door allowing him to step through it first, while she stayed behind a moment to whisper to Tenal before following after Daniel.

> > > >

The lights flickered in the hallway as Ba'al moved down the corridor towards Anubis's chamber. He reached the door a moment later, slowly he pushed it open and stepped inside. Bowing his head he waited silently for Anubis to acknowledge his presence. Once he had, the system lord began to speak.

"My lord, the Replicators have been destroyed. What of the rebel Jaffa on Dakara? Will we launch an attack on them now?" Ba'al fought the bitter taste in his mouth at having to refer to another in such a servile manner.

"We will destroy the rebels in good time. First, I must deal with the one who has betrayed me."

The Goa'uld raised an eyebrow in confusion as he shrugged his shoulders. "Who is it you speak of?"

Anubis laughed and shook his head. "Someone you know rather well."

The lump in his throat made his pause before he squeaked out a response. "Tell me, my lord. Who has betrayed you?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't know you helped the Tau'ri?"

Ba'al straightened his shoulders and stared straight into Anubis's eyes. "I did you a favor by helping to destroy the Replicators."

"Which is the only reason you will be allowed to live. The fact that the Tau'ri and rebel Jaffa now control the weapon on Dakara is not what I had planned."

"We can easily defeat the Jaffa. Our ranks are greater. We can dispose of them and you can use the weapon for your own purposes."

Anubis nodded as he ran his thumb and forefinger down his chin. Without another word he dismissed Ba'al from his presence, the system lord couldn't help but notice the menacing glare that Anubis gave him as he left the chamber and used the rings to get back to his ship.

Three days later when Anubis's fleet arrived to take back the holy city they found that the weapon had already been destroyed, and much to the Ba'al's surprise Anubis had left the city unscathed, and ordered the rest of the fleet to do the same.

The system lord watched curiously as Anubis left his dying host and chose to remain in his incorporeal form rather than taking over another human body. He lingered on the ship that way for a few moments and then proceeded to disappear, leaving Ba'al concerned and confused.

> > > >

"General, since the whole incident with the Replicators, I hadn't had the chance to tell you what Daniel figured out before he…" The colonel paused, trying to find the right words. "Before he was taken."

"And what was it he figured out?" Jack asked as he tapped his fingers on his desk, watching his former 2IC fidget in her chair across from him.

"Well, he used an old Abydonian legend to find the location of the ZPM here on Earth. He couldn't pinpoint the location, but I'm rather certain I'll be able to."

With a smirk the general shook his head. "I always knew you two geniuses could figure it out."

"We just need to scan the planet for an energy signature consistent with that of a Zero-Point Module. Daniel was pretty sure that the ZPM should be fully charged. All we have to do now is locate it."

"Sounds great. What do you need?"

"Actually sir, the Prometheus should have the scanning capability to look for the energy signature."

Jack nodded and stood up to leave, Carter following suit. "By all means, carry on Colonel. Find that power source."

Smiling to herself, Carter exited her CO's office and watched for a moment as he walked towards the gateroom, and then turned and went back to her office. She made a few phone calls, and within two hours she was on her way to the Prometheus. She ran the scans herself and was brimming with excitement when she found a signature that matched a Zero-Point Module. The signature was located in heart of the Sahara Desert, and getting to it wasn't going to be easy, but she was glad she'd found it.

It took two more days before the ZPM was found, and another day before it arrived at the SGC. Jack was pleased at how quickly the search had panned out, and that the plan he and SG-1 had made was going so smoothly. Once the ZPM was brought to the SGC, Jack went to check in with Colonel Everett to make sure his team was ready to deploy.

"Both teams are ready to go, sir. We have all the hardware and artillery being prepped for transport as we speak." The straight-laced Colonel Everett stood at attention as he gave the general a sitrep.

"That's good to hear, Everett." Jack motioned for the colonel to have a seat as he closed the door to the Colonel Everett's office. "There's one thing I want understood, you and your team are to assist Weir's people in keeping the Wraith from getting control of that city at all costs. Is that clear, Colonel?"

"Yes, sir." Everett nodded, but Jack could sense some apprehension in the officer's eyes. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"From what I know of Dr. Weir and her team, I don't think they're going to react kindly to us stepping in and telling them what to do."

Jack sighed, shaking his head. "You're probably right, but you're just gonna have to be clear that the objective is to keep the city safe until the Daedalus can get there."

Colonel Everett nodded again and leaned back in his chair. The two officers discussed the team's plan of attack and options for fighting the Wraith for a few more minutes before the general dismissed Everett to ready his team for transport though the gate. Within an hour Colonel Everett's team was ready and waiting at the gate as the sergeant in the control room dialed Atlantis. The wormhole engaged and lit the room with a bright light and Jack wished them good luck and Godspeed and sent them on their way. He let out a nervous breath as he watched the last of Colonel Everett's team go through the gate and prayed that their efforts would be enough to save Dr. Weir and her expedition team.

Once the gate had shut down Jack walked quietly to his office. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was sending many of Everett's men, and possibly the colonel himself to their deaths if the Daedalus didn't reach the Pegasus Galaxy in time. Lost in thought he never heard the knock on the door, and was surprised to see Carter sticking her head in the door trying to get his attention.

"Is everything alright, sir?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking…" He let the sentence trail off, not sure what else to say as he waved the lieutenant colonel into the office.

She quickly entered and took a seat across from her CO. "I just got back from Area 51. The Daedalus left Earth without a hitch, sir. SG-2 just left with the ZPM and they should rendezvous with the Daedalus on P3X-681 in one hour to pick up the ZPM and if all goes well, she should make it to Atlantis in four days."

Jack raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "That's great, Carter."

Nervously she squirmed in her seat, tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair. "Right, I just…wanted to check in as well, and…let you know I was back."

"Well, it's obvious you're back. Was there anything else?"

"Well, um…I was wondering…" Carter stumbled over her words and Jack was quickly getting impatient.

"Spit it out, Carter."

"I just wanted to know if we'd heard anything about Daniel."

The general shook his head with an irritated scowl. "Just because we haven't heard anything, doesn't mean he's dead."

"But sir…"

Jack cut her off with a quick rising of his arm. "I haven't seen a body, and until I do, I will consider Daniel alive."

"More than likely he was on the Replicator ship when we used the weapon on Dakara."

"I realize that Carter, but I'm not ready to write him off just yet. You know how Daniel his. He's survived everything so far, and until there is some definite confirmation otherwise, I don't want to have to discuss this again."

The tone of his voice was firm, and the colonel quietly nodded in understanding. A moment later he dismissed her, watching as she carefully closed the door behind her as she left.

> > > >

The Hive ships drifted along through space, steadily making their way towards another populated planet to feed on. The first ship was set to jump out of hyperspace and signaled the others of its action as it did so. Each ship leapt through the hyperspace window and found themselves in orbit around a planet. Once all three ships and all the drones had made it through, a squadron of the drones started to fly towards the planet to begin the culling for their food supply.

As the first round of humans was transported onto the Hive ships, they were met by a patrol of Wraith that herded them into a cell. Unbeknownst to the Wraith, another being had been transported to the ship along with the humans, this being was invisible to their scanners and moved easily through the ship, watching the Wraith as they harvested the humans on the planet below.

"Get to the control room. The ship is ready to go back into hyperspace." A large Wraith shouted as he ordered the smaller one beside him.

"Yes, sir." Without another word the smaller Wraith did as he was told and took off down the corridor towards the control room.

As he reached the buzzing control room he felt a strange sensation pass through him and growled in confusion as a transparent formless figure appeared in front of him.

"What is this!" He waved his hand in front of him and shook his head as his hand passed straight through the strange figure.

"I have a proposition for your people." The other Wraith in the room turned at the sound of the strange voice.

A female Wraith stepped forward and looked the figure up and down, warily keeping her eyes on it as she spoke. "Who do you think you are? We have no need for your propositions and such."

"I am Anubis, and if you wish to find Earth you would be wise to hear what I have to say."

She cocked her head in interest at his words, and smiled. "This vessel is under my command. Tell us how to get to this place called Earth."

Anubis was silent for a moment and nodded. "I will tell you the answer you seek, but you must give me something in return."

The female Wraith snarled at Anubis and shook her head. "Why should we give you anything?"

"Because I will give your people a fresh new feeding ground, that should keep you satisfied for quite some time. I only ask for one thing in return."

"And what is it you wish from us?"

"I wish to join with you."

She laughed in response and the rest of the room erupted into laughter with her. "That is all you wish?"

"Yes, will you give me what I ask for?" Anubis's deep voice echoed off the walls of the room and the other Wraith got quiet as they waited for their leader to answer.

"You will tell us how to get to Earth, if we simply allow you to join us?"

Anubis made a sound that the other Wraith could only interpret as a laugh as he spoke directly to the female in charge. "You misunderstand me. I do not wish to join with the Wraith; I wish to join with you."

The Wraith woman seemed to go pale at his suggestion and cocked her head in confusion as he moved closer to her. The others watched in confusion as Anubis seemed to go straight through their leader's body, and she shook for a moment and then stood still, blinking as she gazed around the room.

As he took control of her body, Anubis felt a surge of energy inside him and he smiled wickedly. He could see the rest of the crew watching him and slowly he turned towards the control console beside him.

"How long before we reach Atlantis?" He asked, using the female Wraith's voice.

A voice behind him answered quickly and he shouted for everyone to prepare themselves. They were closer than he'd thought, in less than an hour the Wraith would overtake Atlantis, and if he had his way Earth would be their next target.

> > > >

As he sat quietly on his deck, Jack could feel a strong rush of energy coursing through him. It had started after he'd healed Jacob and Selmak, and in the three days since then the power within him had begun to increase. As his power grew he began to feel less and less in control of it. It was becoming more and more difficult to rein in the energy so that he didn't affect those around him. For this reason he had retreated to his home on his day off, to try and find a way to get himself under control.

Meditating on the back porch seemed to help, until a noise caught his attention. He could just make out the sound of a car pulling into his driveway; he stood up and walked around the yard to see who was visiting him.

"Come on back, Jacob." He called as he saw the familiar face about to knock on his front door.

"Wasn't sure if you'd be home. Sam said it was your day off."

Jack nodded and led the former general around to his back porch. The two men sat down at the small table set up there, and Jack pointed to the cooler beside him.

"Beer?"

"Sure." Jacob took the bottle in hand and smiled as he opened it and put the bottleneck to his lips. "Oddly enough Selmak likes this stuff."

Jack shook his head and laughed softly. "Hates coffee, but likes beer? Go figure."

/The taste of coffee is quite displeasing to me, O'Neill./ Selmak replied and again Jack shook his head.

"Okay. Whatever works for you two."

For a moment the smile on Jacob's face faded and Jack sat up straight, realizing that the Tok'ra had yet to mention why he'd dropped by in the first place.

/Jacob and I wish to give you our thanks, for saving us. We are deeply indebted to you for your actions./

Shaking his head Jack started to speak, but Jacob stopped him with a wave of his hand. "I can tell you're gonna try and say it was nothing, or some crap like that, Jack, but you saved us. Selmak and I are more than grateful. If you hadn't stepped in, we would both be dead."

"It was purely selfish on my part. I only did it because Selmak happens to be the only Tok'ra I can actually stand." Smiling Jacob nodded.

"I figured as much."

"Yep, gotta have at least one of you around that doesn't annoy the hell outta me."

Both men laughed for a moment longer, and finished their beers before either spoke again.

"Do you really believe that Daniel is alive, Jack?"

Jacob's question caught the general by surprise, but he quickly nodded in response. "It's difficult to explain, but yes. I know he is."

"How can you be so sure?" Bringing his hand to his chin, Jack let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm assuming Sam told you about me?" Jacob nodded and Jack continued. "I can sense him or at least his energy."

The former General raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Before the plague began to destroy the Ancients, the few that had failed to Ascend and survived, came to realize they were linked mentally. Those that had Ascended were beginning to understand the link they already had, when they realized that those that hadn't completed their Ascension had a similar mind link as well." Jack could see the pensive expression on Jacob's face and he tried to make his explanation a bit more clear. "When Daniel was Ascended his mind created a sort of signature, and that's what I can sense."

"So you're saying the Ancients or rather the Ascended are all linked in this way?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "It's more complicated than a simple telepathic link or anything like that, but yes. It's how the other Ascendeds keep tabs on those of us that have trouble with the rules."

Jacob nodded in understanding and asked another question. "If you can sense Daniel, can't you communicate with him?"

"No. The connection doesn't work that way for me. If I were Ascended I could, but I'm not."

"That's something else that didn't make sense to me. Sam said you refused to ascend. Why?"

Jack sighed and shook his head. "My people used it as an escape from the plague that was threatening them, as well as to get away from their responsibility. I couldn't just walk away like that. I still can't, not knowing what I know."

"You mean about the Ancient's creating the Goa'uld and the Replicators?"

"Sounds like Sam didn't miss a beat in her little history lesson."

A smile ghosted across Jacob's face and nodded. "I have to admit it all seems pretty surreal to me. Even Selmak is a little thrown by all this."

"You mean I actually surprised the little snake?"

Rolling his eyes Jacob leaned back in his chair. "You just never struck us as someone so…old."

"Ouch, Jacob…That hurt." Jack frowned, but it only lasted a moment before both men began to laugh.

"Seriously, if you ever need our help all you need to do is ask and we will be there." The sincerity in Jacob's voice was a comfort to the general and he nodded in response.

"I appreciate it, Jacob. Maybe one day I'll call in the favor."

The two sat together in silence for a moment longer before Jacob spoke up again. "Can I ask you something, Jack?"

"Shoot."

"I suppose this is more of an observation than a question, but I can't help it, it seems to me like there is something more to you believing Daniel is still alive."

Jack sighed and shook his head as he brought his hand up to his left temple. "I thought I explained this already, Jacob?"

"You explained the connection, but that doesn't explain the look on your face whenever Sam or someone else suggests that Daniel might not be alive."

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest as if daring Jack to contradict him, but the general merely smirked and brought his hand to his chin.

> > > >

Colonel Everett and his team had made it to Atlantis, holding off the Wraith attack for as long as they could, but unfortunately they weren't strong enough to keep them at bay for too long. Within two days the city was overrun with Wraith. Major Sheppard had assumed command when Colonel Everett fell in battle, and the few soldiers that remained after the first attack continued to protect the gate, hoping that reinforcements would arrive soon. On the morning of the third day, the radio sounded with a welcome sound.

"Atlantis, this is Colonel Howard on board the Daedalus. Do you copy?" There was a crackle followed by silence before John responded.

"This is Major Sheppard. We could really use some help down here. You guys better be close by."

"What's your sitrep, Major?"

"We're pretty banged up, but we're holding our position in the gateroom. We could use some reinforcements."

A few minutes later a team from the Daedalus ringed into the gateroom, and the soldiers on Atlantis sighed in relief.

"Major Sheppard I presume?" A sandy-haired colonel nodded in John's direction and the major saluted back.

"Yes, sir."

"Looks like your people have been through a helluva fight."

"We've lost quite a few, Colonel Everett and my second, Lieutenant Ford and another member of my team are still unaccounted for. Last report says they may have been taken out by a couple Darts, but we haven't found their bodies. Since the first wave, the Wraith haven't attacked, but that's likely only because they know we hold the key to the gate."

Colonel Howard nodded, adjusting the P-90 on his shoulder. "You've done good to hold on this long."

Before he could say more an explosion shook the gateroom, leaving the colonel shaking his head and searching for the source.

"Sounds like they're getting impatient." Sheppard remarked as he gripped his weapon tight in his right hand.

"Let's evacuate all non-military personnel to the ship, and…"

The colonel's words were cut off as another blast sent the gateroom doors crashing to the ground, and flood of Wraith entered the room. The firefight lasted minutes before they were forced to surrender. They were herded like sheep to a large room in the lower level of the city where they were met by a female Wraith, flanked by several guards.

"You are no match for us, humans." The Wraith woman's hollow voice bounced off the walls, sounding strangely reminiscent of a Goa'uld. "Where is the key?"

Sheppard shrugged his shoulders as he glanced in Colonel Howard's direction. The senior officer nodded in approval of his response, and the major smirked.

"No idea what you're talking a about."

"Do not play games with me! Give me the key to the gate, and I will consider allowing you and your people to live."

Howard sighed. "Consider it? That's not much of a reason for us to tell you anything."

The Wraith smiled wickedly, shaking her head. "Tell me what I want to know."

"The major already told you, we have no idea what you're talking about."

Sheppard and Howard shared another quick glance; both sensing there was something strange about the Wraith female.

"Very well. If you do not tell me, we will feed on you since you are of no other use to us." She waved her hand nonchalantly and turned to leave, her guards followed and closed the door, leaving the humans alone in the room.

Once the Wraith had gone Howard turned and placed a hand on Sheppard's shoulder. "Where is that key?"

"Weir and McKay have it. They were able to take a puddle jumper to the mainland along with some of the other scientists. We thought if we could at least hide the key, Earth would be safe. If we could contact them…" Sheppard left his sentence hanging, not thinking there was anyway for that to happen.

Howard smirked as he reached into his jacket, pulling out a small metal device and pressing it against his palm. "Daedalus this is Howard, do you read me?"

"Colonel, we read you." A female voice responded and the colonel shook his head in approval.

"Don't have much time to explain, but the Wraith have taken the city. We're being held on one of the lower levels. I need you to scan the planet's surface for a small shuttlecraft. Drs. Weir and McKay should be aboard, let them know our situation. Make sure they are safe."

"What about you, sir?"

"Get Weir and McKay. They have the key for the gate. As long as the Wraith don't get that, Earth is safe, Major."

There was a long silence before the woman responded again. "Understood, sir. Daedalus out."

> > > >

Anubis tapped on the control panel trying to find anything that might help him find out where the humans were hiding the gate key that would allow the Wraith to dial Earth. He'd had little luck, but he was hopeful that giving the humans time to consider their options in the holding area below would change their minds. Though he knew they were an obstinate race, he was certain that with the proper motivation he would be able to convince them to give him what he wanted.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a voice in his head. It belonged to the female Wraith whose body he inhabited. It had been a most bizarre experience taking over her. She had not been like the humans he'd used before. Her mental abilities were far stronger than any human, and he was delighted to find that her body didn't decay like a human's did when his incorporeal self overtook it.

/You may control my body, but I will have it back./

As the Wraith spoke Anubis smiled inwardly. /Perhaps, but until then I am in control of you and your ship./

/That may be so, but that will not last long. Already the humans have split our ranks./

Anubis sighed inwardly knowing that the crew of the Daedalus had indeed succeeded in getting the second Hive ship to follow them into space and away from the city, but he was not ready to give in. He knew there was still a good chance that they would be able to destroy Earth. He need only be patient and he would witness their destruction firsthand. That thought warmed his cold soul as he continued to listen to his Wraith host prattle on.

/I understand you wish to destroy the humans, but why are you willing to allow us to do the job, when you obviously have the strength to do it yourself/

Anubis was surprised by the Wraith's keen perceptions. /I have the power to destroy them, but there are certain rules to which I am otherwise bound to follow that would prevent me from doing so myself./

/And these rules don't prevent you from using us to destroy them/

There was silence as Anubis allowed the Wraith to look into his mind for the briefest of moments to get a glimpse of who and what he was. He could feel her shudder in his mind and he quickly closed himself to her.

/I believe we have much to gain from one another, Anubis./

Before he could respond to her comment, he looked up to see that a few of the Wraith were watching him rather intently. He quickly ordered a few of the soldiers to check on the prisoners and then went back to the control panel. Just before his hands touched the panel he heard the door behind him swish open and turned to see his guards leading three soldiers with their hands bound behind their backs, towards him.

"Why are these humans here!" He snarled at the two guards, aiming their energy weapons at the humans.

"We found these three attempting to get to the shuttle bay on the other side of the city. Do you want them put with the other humans?"

Anubis raised his arm to wave them away, but stopped as the female Wraith began to whisper in his mind. She was far more devious than he had realized, and her plan sounded nearly perfect.

"Bring them here." The guards curiously pushed the three soldiers forward, shoving them to their knees once they were a few feet from their leader.

Motioning for the other Wraith to leave the room, he waited until they were alone to speak. "Tell me where the key to the Stargate is."

"We won't be telling you anything." The gray-haired soldier ground out as he grimaced in pain from a wound to the right side of his chest.

"You Tau'ri are quite pathetic creatures. Even in defeat you hold onto your foolish notions of loyalty and pride. It's a wonder your species has survived this long."

The three soldiers watched quietly as Anubis paced back and forth in front of them. "You may have the city, but you will never be able to get to Earth."

Anubis smirked at the young soldier that was speaking and shook his head. "That is where you're wrong, Lt. Ford."

The young man blinked in surprise, turning to the gray-haired soldier in concern. "How did you know my name?"

"I know many things, and one way or another you will tell me what I want to know." Rubbing palms together, Anubis stepped forward and let his thumb graze the lieutenant's cheek.

"Leave him alone!" The gray-haired soldier spat at their captor, and was rewarded by a sharp slap to the face. He fell to the floor and the other two soldiers were futilely trying to go to his aid despite the bindings on their wrists.

"You will do well not to challenge me again, human!" Anubis adjusted the collar of the leather-like jacket he wore and stepped back from his prisoners.

"We do not fear the Wraith! You may take our lives but you will not destroy us!" The third soldier pulled herself to her feet and stared straight into her captor's eyes.

"I admire your spirit, but you are nothing. You cannot stop me and your petty attempt at bravado only strengthens my resolve to break you, and get the information I need."

/This one has been connected to the Wraith before./ The female Wraith whispered and Anubis raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You are not like these two, are you?" Anubis asked as he stepped closer to the third soldier. "What is your name?"

"I am Teyla Emmagan."

/She is from this galaxy. I sense our blood in her./

"Do you know the information I seek?" Teyla sneered at the Wraith and nodded.

"Yes, but neither I nor my companions will tell you."

Anubis laughed, bringing his hand to his chin and letting his fingertips rest there a moment. "It will be a pleasure to see you broken and begging for me to spare your life, Teyla Emmagan."

She started to move towards the Wraith, but he reached out his arm and she seemed to freeze in place. The other two soldiers watched in confusion as she was thrown backwards several feet as the Anubis raised his arm.

> > > >

Jack took a deep breath, listening to the silence in his living room. He could hear his heart begin to race and slowly he let his mind connect with the other outcasts. He'd done this several times since Desa had helped him that first time, and each time he had felt himself grow stronger. Though he was never able to communicate on his own, he learned much by listening now that he was able to isolate the voices down to a single one. The voices in his mind blurred and merged, forming one cacophonous sound for a moment before he could single out one particular voice. To his shock and surprise the voice called out to him.

/I am Ayola. Who are you? I have not sensed you before./

/Um…It's complicated. I didn't know I could do this until now./ Jack gradually began to feel more at ease and tried again to speak. /I'm Jack. /

/It is a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances. /

/What seems to be the problem, Ayola/

/The Others have allowed one of their foul creations to run amuck. This time the vile creature may just succeed in destroying the First World./

The words shook Jack and he pressed for more information. /How do you know this/

/Can you not sense his presence? He made his move while the Others were busy dealing with that foolish boy. Now we are expected to watch while Anubis destroys Atlantis and the First World. It is beyond me how the Others can stand idly by and do nothing/

Ayola's voice was almost frantic with emotion and Jack had to use all his strength not let those emotions bleed through his mental wall. /I'm not sure I understand. What boy are you talking about? And how did Anubis get past the Others/

/Surely you know which boy I speak of! The one that chose to return to the corporeal world rather than remained ascended, the one called Daniel./

For a moment Jack was silent. /Where is Daniel now/

/He is with the Others./

/Why/

/That I do not know, though I fear it cannot be for something good./

/What can you tell me about Anubis/ The disdain was clear in his voice at the mention of Anubis, and Jack had to make great effort to calm himself.

/While the Others were preventing Daniel from ascending, Anubis was able to use his full power to travel the distance to the Pegasus Galaxy. He's joined with the Wraith. Soon they will attack Atlantis, and if he has his way the First World will surely be next./

Ayola and Jack spoke for a moment longer, before Jack was too exhausted to continue and slipped back into consciousness. A shudder passed through him as he brought his hands to the sides of his head. Rubbing circles around his temples he tried to compose himself. He could feel something begin to slip away from him, almost like a shield being tossed to the ground, an Energy coursed through him, like he'd never felt before and his hands began to shake. For the briefest of moments he felt completely out of control, as he had the day he killed Deygan, and fought with all his might to gain back that sense of control as the strange energy continued to flow through him. Finally, the energy seemed to subside and he breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the beads of sweat from his brow as his breathing went back to normal.

> > > >

The strap tore through his flesh and he shouted, the agony painfully evident in his voice. Teyla and Ford watched in silence as the gray-haired soldier was lashed again and again, as he had been for over half an hour. They had already been tortured, but watching the already wounded soldier go through so much was taxing on them both.

Anubis smiled from his place just to the left of where the torture was taking place. He watched carefully as one of his soldiers continued with the prisoner's punishment. The pained expressions on the other two human's faces told him they was getting closer to telling him what he wanted to know.

Another lash, another scream and the soldier closed his eyes, slipping into a state of unconsciousness. Teyla and Ford sighed, knowing the older man couldn't take much more.

"Pity. I would have thought a soldier of such high rank could handle more pain, yet he squeals like a animal needing to be put out of its misery." Anubis stepped closer to where the other two soldiers were kneeling and used the Wraith's telepathic power to scan Teyla and Ford for the information he sought.

Sensing what he was doing, Teyla shook her head. "You cannot pry into our minds this way. We will not tell you anything."

"Defiant to the end, Teyla Emmagan. That foolish human trait will be your undoing." He scanned Ford's mind again and he could sense that the young soldier was beginning to crack.

Slowly, Anubis moved to where the beaten and battered prisoner was laying and took the strap from the Wraith holding it. He flashed a wicked smile at the two humans and then brought the strap down across the unconscious man's back several times.

"STOP!" The plea left Ford's lips before he had a chance to stop himself and Anubis struck and reached into the young man's mind, grinning wildly when he'd found what he desired.

"I promised you would tell me what I wanted to know, whether you wanted to or not." Teyla and Ford watched in horror, realizing that they had unwittingly given up their comrades and possibly an entire galaxy in a single moment.

> > > >

"Elizabeth, we can't keep running like this. It's not only insane, but pointless." Dr. McKay gasped for breath as he leaned against a nearby tree.

"What do you propose we do, Rodney?" The brunette asked as she stopped to catch her breath, letting her right hand fall to her side, instinctively running over the small bulge in her pocket where the key rested.

"The Wraith may already be on their way here to look for us. We have to find a place to hide that thing and then I'd recommend we find a place where we can do the same."

Weir shook her head and pulled the key from her pocket. "I'd rather destroy this than leave it somewhere the Wraith might be able to find it."

"As admirable a thought as that is, if we destroy it we'll probably never get home; even if the Daedalus was able to get here, it still has to take on two Hive ships. The odds aren't in our favor either way we choose. At least if we hide the key, there's chance the Wraith won't find it and we can…"

"We can what Rodney! Come back for it? We have to keep the key from the Wraith at all costs!"

Rodney sighed heavily as a frustrated moan escaped him. "I don't want the Wraith to get to Earth anymore that you do, but Sheppard and the others are counting on us keeping it safe so we can all go home again. Hiding it is the best way to ensure that, Elizabeth. If we do that, we might be able to steer the Wraith away from here by using the puddle jumper."

"Are you suggesting we take on two Wraith ships with one puddle jumper? Have you completely lost your mind?"

"Actually, no I haven't. I'm beginning to think I'm the only one here that remembers how to use mine though. You seem to have left all rational thought back on Atlantis!"

Dr. Weir opened her mouth to respond, but she couldn't find the words. She flashed Rodney a hurt look and then stormed off further into the tree-filled mainland, leaving a stunned McKay in her wake. It took him a few minutes to catch up to her, and when he did they heard the sound of a Wraith dart getting dangerously close to them.

"Run, Elizabeth!" Rodney shouted as he was swept up by the dart's beaming device.

She screamed as he was beamed away before her eyes and in a panic she ran. Her heart was pounding as she kept on, the sound of the dart behind her and getting ever closer. The trees around her were growing thicker and the dart had to go higher to avoid hitting them. She took advantage and tried to change her course, veering to the right. For a moment she thought she had outsmarted the Wraith, and a split second later that illusion was shattered as she ran head-on into a Wraith soldier, crashing to the ground on impact. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the cold slitted eyes of the Wraith holding the stunner that had just been used to shoot her, and his almost triumphant smile as he held the key he'd pulled from her pocket.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a room with the rest of the Atlantis team, and staring up at a familiar face as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"It's alright, Dr. Weir. You're going to be alright." Dr. Beckett's soothing voice did little to calm her as the realization hit her.

"They have the key, Carson." He hung his head and nodded in understanding.

"You and Rodney did all you could. There was nothing more we could have asked of you." She leaned into his gentle touch as he rested his hand on her shoulder.

More tears fell from her eyes as the guilt washed over her. All Carson could do was pull her into his arms until she had calmed herself.

> > > >

For the third time that day, the klaxons sounded and Jack rushed to the control room to discover another 'unscheduled off world activation' had occurred. He brought his right hand to his head, sighing inwardly.

"Do we have an iris code?" He asked Sgt. Davis, who was frantically pecking at his keyboard.

"Yes, it's Colonel Everett's team, sir."

"Open the iris."

The sergeant hurriedly did as instructed, and a moment later a body came flying through the gate. Jack had just walked through the blast-doors in time to see the battered and bloodied carcass roll down the ramp. He neared the body and bit back a curse as he lifted the dog tags to see that it was indeed Colonel Everett.

"Shut the gate down!" The general's voice echoed through the room as he pointed towards Sgt. Davis.

The sergeant wasn't quite fast enough. Before the gate could shut, five armed figures came pouring through the Stargate and Jack fell backwards off the ramp, pulling Everett's body with him.

The sound of gunfire filled the room, but the five Wraith that had come through the gate did not stop moving until every soldier with a weapon had been immobilized. During the gunfire, the blast-doors had been closed and Wraith had begun to fire at them with their own weapons. They were very near to opening the doors when a voice caught their attention.

"STOP!" The room fell silent at the general's cry, and the Wraith turned in his direction.

The personnel in the control room watched in awe and confusion as their leader stepped closer to the intruders.

The tallest of the Wraith was the first to speak, and the raspy sound of his voice made Jack cringe. "You cannot stop us, human."

"You're not leaving this room alive, guys. Not unless you put those weapons down, nice and easy."

Taking another step forward Jack lifted his arms, and the Wraith began to laugh. One of them raised his energy weapon and aimed it directly at the general's chest.

"You do not have a weapon, how do you intend to stop us?"

Closing his eyes, Jack took another step forward, but did not respond to the Wraith's question.

"You are a pitiful species. We will feast on you with great pleasure."

Jack smirked at the Wraith and cast a quick glance up at the control room where Jacob, Sam, and Teal'c were now watching. He could see that his team was distressed, and unsure of what their leader was about to do. With a nod of his head he silently hoped they understood that he had no choice. He couldn't let the Wraith onto the base.

"Sorry fellas. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't let you leave this room."

Jack closed his eyes again, lowering his head, and reaching into himself for the energy he'd felt coursing through him earlier. He felt it slowly begin to build up inside him and raised his arms in the air. The Wraith stared blankly at the strange human before them and then turned back to the doors.

"Kill him!" The tallest Wraith called out as he aimed his weapon at the door.

In a flash, the room was filled with red light. The Wraith began to fire their weapons, unsure of what was going on, but as quickly as it started it was over. The red light faded and the five Wraith were suspended in the air, and the personnel in the control room watched in stunned silence as the aliens were incinerated before their very eyes. When it was over there was nothing left but five small piles of ashes, and an empty uniform where the general had been standing.

tbc...


	3. Council of Justice

Chapter 3: Council of Justice

The five Wraith he'd sent through the gate had yet to return and this disturbed Anubis greatly. They had been ordered to secure the gate on the other side so that more patrols could come through. An hour had passed and they'd heard nothing from the first patrol.

He stepped away from the gate and decided to walk the corridors, looking for a quiet place where he could concentrate without being disturbed by anyone. A few minutes later he settled on a small lab, just down the corridor to his left. As the door slid shut he could already hear the female Wraith whispering to him.

/My brothers have been lost. I sense it./

/Quiet./

/You cannot silence me, Anubis. You may control my body, but my mind is far stronger./

Anubis growled, shaking his head. He drowned out her thoughts as he tried to focus on the Others and the Outcasts trying to make a link with one of them. It took a moment, but he was able to do so and quickly began to gather information from the various voices swimming around him.

/You will be stopped/ A random voice called out, though he wasn't certain, he guessed it was another Outcast.

/Who will be the one to challenge me? You/ At that the voice was silent and Anubis continued his search.

A few minutes later he'd found the information he needed and he smiled in triumph. He left the lab and started back to the gateroom.

> > > >

"He couldn't have just disappeared?" Colonel Carter tried to keep her voice low, but she knew she failed when she saw the surprised expression on her father's face.

"I don't know what to tell ya. The only thing of Jack's that was in the gateroom was his uniform."

"Could not the Ascended have intervened? O'Neill has mentioned their displeasure at his interferences as of late."

Sam blinked at Teal'c's words as her eyes widened in understanding. "That could be it. The general said that he'd inadvertently alerted the Others of his presence when he saved Selmak and my father."

Jacob nodded in agreement. "If that is the case, then what can we do?"

They fell into a stunned silence as a bright light engulfed the room, and to their surprise Oma Desala stood before them. "I believe I can be of assistance with that."

"Do you know where the General is?" Colonel Carter was the first to speak and Oma nodded in response.

"He is being brought before the Ascended for breaking the rules of his punishment."

Teal'c rose to his feet, the concern clearly written on his face. "How may we assist him?"

"I am afraid there is little you can do from here. He must plead his case to a panel of Ascended judges. They will decide his fate from there."

"And if these judges don't choose in Jack's favor what happens to him?" Jacob asked as he sat up straight in his chair.

"Jack has taken another being's life. Though the circumstances may have called for it, he was bound by the rules of his punishment not to interfere in such a manner." Oma paused a moment before continuing. "I fear that if the judges do not choose in his favor the consequences will be dire."

All three soldiers shook their heads, not liking the tone of Oma's voice, or what that tone implied.

"Why are you here?" Colonel Carter asked as Oma moved closer to them.

"I've come here on behalf of Daniel Jackson." They stared blankly at the Ascended woman and she continued. "While he was with the Replicators he attempted to ascend. He was unable to complete the process, and is now between Ascension and his human form. The Ascended are going to try him, to determine whether or not to allow Daniel to complete his Ascension."

"What do you require of us?" Teal'c asked what they were all wondering.

"I have agreed to speak for Daniel at his trial, and I had hoped that you would all agree to bear witness for him."

The three of them nodded in agreement, and Jacob spoke up. "How do we do that?"

"I will take you to where the trial is to occur." Oma changed form to that of a glowing Ascended and reached out to the other three in the room.

Her light enveloped them and they felt themselves being transported. When they opened their eyes again they were standing together in a large room with nothing but a few benches and chairs and one long table in the center of it.

> > > >

He opened his eyes to see that he was floating in what looked like a darkened sky. Slowly he turned himself so that he could see what was around him, groaning when he saw nothing but blackness in every direction. Suddenly he felt himself begin to spin, the spinning rapidly increased in speed until he was forced to close his eyes.

A familiar voice called out to him once the spinning had ceased, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt solid floor beneath him. "Jack? Is that you?"

There across the room from him stood a robe-clad Daniel Jackson, his smile beaming across the room. Jack stood and looked around, trying to gauge his surroundings. They were standing in an empty room that looked rather like a prison cell. There were no windows, not even a door that he could see, only four walls and small light above them, dimly lighting the small area. He started to move closer when he felt the floor begin to shake. He gripped at the wall, but still fell to his knees and watched as Daniel did the same on the opposite side of the room.

When the floor stopped shaking a set of bars had been placed between the two men, and Jack opened his mouth to speak as he touched the bars. "Where are we?"

"I'm not really sure. I was moved here a little while ago, I think."

"You think?" Jack didn't like the uncertainty in Daniel's voice as he motioned for the younger man to move closer.

"Well, I remember being on the Replicator ship, and getting stabbed in the heart. Then I woke up alone in a room kinda like this one, only there was a cot in the corner. Some guy came in telling me he had tried to help me ascend, but that he'd been stopped by the Others. Oma showed up a little while later and then brought me here to await my trial."

Jack shook his head and sighed. "So Tenal did reach you?"

"You know him?" Daniel raised an eyebrow curiously.

"We've met before. Desa told me he had tried to help, but that was all she knew."

"Where are we Jack? Tenal said that I wasn't ascended, but that I wasn't dead. He said something about a trial to determine whether I deserve to ascend or not. Oma didn't really tell me anything."

Daniel's concern grew as an almost fearful look came over Jack's face. He'd never seen his friend look that way before, and he knew that it wasn't good thing.

"Has anyone come in here besides me?"

"No…What's going on Jack? Why are you here?"

Shaking his head Jack eased himself to the floor and took a seat, drawing his knees up to his chest. "I think I may have pissed the Others off a bit too much this time."

"Why do you say that?" Daniel asked as he followed suit and took a seat on his side of the bars.

When Jack looked away, Daniel sighed in frustration and reached a hand through the bars between them, letting his hand come to rest on Jack's knee.

"Some Wraith came through the gate and I…um, sort of used my powers to stop them."

"Powers?" Daniel asked as he cocked his head in Jack's direction, obviously wanting more of an explanation.

"Well, a lot has happened since you went away. My Ancient abilities seem to be getting stronger." Jack went on to recount how he helped Selmak, and then told him what had happened with the Wraith in the gateroom.

"So you killed them?"

Jack nodded in silent reply and Daniel shook his head.

"Not to sound rude, but what exactly does this have to do with me?"

Both men chuckled softly at Daniel's comment and the older man sighed as he spoke. "I'm guessing their going to put us on trial. You tried to ascend and failed, which means it's up to the Others to decide if you are worthy to be allowed to complete the task."

"What about you?"

Without missing a beat, Jack looked straight into Daniel's eyes. "More than likely they'll kill me."

> > > >

"Oma, if we're here, what's to stop Anubis from trying to attack Earth while we're gone?" Sam asked as she took a seat on the bench in front of her.

"We are no longer in your plane of existence. Time as it is on Earth does not exist here. When this is over you will be returned to the SGC and it will be as if no time had passed at all." The three soldiers stared at the Ascended woman, and she smiled softly at their mystified expressions.

"If we're not in our own plane of existence, then where are we?" Sam asked trying to hide the concern in her voice, but failing miserably.

"It is difficult to explain, but we are in a place between the Ascended plane of existence and yours."

Sam wrinkled her nose and then nodded. "So will you all be, pardon the expression, 'glowy' when the trial begins?"

Oma laughed softly and shook her head. "No, because Jack and Daniel are still human, the judges will take human form during the trial."

"So when does this thing start?" It was Jacob that asked a question this time as he ran his fingers over his chin in anticipation.

"The trial will begin shortly. First, I must prepare the three of you." Again the soldiers stared at her, this time looking quite confused, and she was quick to clarify her statement. "I must explain the rules. There are 12 judges that will preside over this trial. You will each be asked to speak on behalf of Daniel, and the judges may be thorough in their questioning of each of you."

"I know you explained why this trial is happening, but what exactly are the judges looking for?"

Oma turned to Sam, sighing slightly. "They wish to gauge whether Daniel has progressed enough since his previous Ascension for them to allow him to do so again."

"What about Jack?" Jacob asked the question he was certain they were all wondering.

"He will be tried as well, though I do not know who will be allowed to speak for him. His trial will not be the same as Daniel's. The Others are less willing to allow leniency for what he had done. "

"Will we be allowed to speak for O'Neill as well?" They all turned in surprise at Teal'c's question, and Oma nodded.

"It is possible, as long as Jack allows it." A pregnant silence filled the room and Oma couldn't help but sense the dismay that hung heavy in the air at the possibility of their friend not allowing them to speak on his behalf.

"What other rules do we need to know?" Sam asked, finally breaking the silence and getting everyone's attention. Quickly Oma began to explain the rest of the rules for the trial. Time passed quickly, and soon the room began to fill with the Ascendeds wishing to view the trial, followed by the judges.

The trial was about to begin. Both Jack and Daniel had been brought into a large room. They looked first at each other and then around the room. There was one aisle leading from the door to a semi-circular area at the far end of the room. To the left, right, and stretching upwards were hundreds of seats where other ascended beings were waiting quietly for the proceedings to begin.

Silently they made their way through the stadium like seats, to the center area where they could see a few familiar faces waiting for them. Oma was standing just at the end of the aisle, and she had Carter, Teal'c and Jacob beside her. Jack and Daniel were quick to join them. They all took seats on a set of benches that had been placed near the aisle. In front of the group, in the center of the semi-circle, was a podium-like structure with two steps leading to it. The structure was facing the end of the room where the 12 judges were seated.

"Those being tried, come forward." The loud voice cut through the silence in the room, and Daniel and Jack looked up, taking a deep breath before they moved the few steps forward onto the podium.

The one who had called them forward began to speak directly to them. "We have been chosen from amongst those in this plane of existence to bear witness and serve as judges for this trial. You will each be given a chance to defend your actions, and this council of judges will deliberate on your fate. Since the cases against you are separate, you are each allowed to have one of the Ascended speak on your behalf. Oma Desala has agreed to speak for Daniel." He turned to Jack. "Janus, who is your chosen speaker?"

"I know few that would speak for me here, so I choose to speak for myself."

The 12 judges nodded amongst one another and the speaker turned back to Jack. "If that is your wish, though according to trial rules, you have the option to allow another to speak for you at any time, is that understood?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, I understand."

Daniel followed Jack back down the steps to the spot they had been standing before they were called forward.

"We will hear Daniel's case first." The judge who seemed to have the role of speaker continued on. "Your fate as one of Ascended is in question. You were unable to complete the task of your Ascension. We wish to hear why you feel you should be allowed to join us."

The archeologist was speechless, not really sure what he was supposed to do next. Luckily, Oma took it upon herself to speak up.

"Judges, Daniel was once an Ascended being. Admittedly, he was not ready when he first joined us, but he has learned much in the time since then. Can we not allow him a second chance to partake of the enlightenment that we all share in?"

The judges whispered quietly amongst one another and Oma turned to where Daniel was seated, he motioned for her to come closer. She was about to do so when the voice of one of the judges stopped her in her tracks.

It was a female judge and her soft voice was a change from the previous judge. "If he was not ready, then why did you interfere and aid him in his previous Ascension?"

Oma turned and let out a soft sigh. "I will take the blame for that. I convinced him to Ascend in an attempt to save his life. I felt he was worthy of enlightenment, and I still do."

"Why should this council believe as you do, that Daniel is worthy of Ascension?" The same judge that had been the speaker at the beginning of the trial spoke up.

Oma opened her mouth to respond, but Daniel got to his feet and moved past her. He took his place on the podium, and looked around at the judges before speaking.

"As this is my trial, I wish to speak for myself." The judges nodded and waited for Daniel to go on. "I don't remember anything really, about my time being ascended before. I distinctly remember before that I didn't think that I deserved to even be attempting something that major, that momentous."

The female judge was quick to cut in. "If you do not believe you are worthy of enlightenment, then this council should not grant you Ascension."

"That's not what I'm saying." Daniel raised his arms in the air as he continued. "I don't believe it's for anyone to determine whether another is worthy of anything. Ascension is more than mere enlightenment to all that exists in the universe. You all should know this."

Jack and the others stared in amazement as the room erupted into whispers at the archeologist's words. For the briefest of moments Daniel turned around and saw that everyone was completely focused on him and he spoke again.

"Is it not a choice whether or not to ascend?"

The female judge nodded. "Of course it is a choice. No one can be forced into enlightenment."

"Then you as judges have failed in one point." Again the room erupted into whispers, but was quickly quieted by the head judge.

"How is it we have failed?"

"You have not asked whether I wish to ascend again. I may have tried to do so before I died, but how do you know that is still what I wish?"

The whispers resumed throughout the room, and Daniel turned to see Jack and the others giving him confused looks as he waited to hear a response from the judges.

"Are you saying that you do not wish to Ascend?" The same female judge from before asked.

"No, that is not what I'm saying." Daniel could see the confused looks on the judge's faces and he took a deep breath before continuing. "You say it is a choice whether or not I ascend. From what I understand of Ascension, if one is worthy then they should be able to reach enlightenment on their own. Am I correct so far?"

Several of the judges nodded and Daniel continued. "Then if this panel of judges were to rule in my favor you would…what, help me ascend?"

A judge on the far left side of the panel tapped his hand on the table before him and then answered. "Yes that is correct. One of us would assist you in the process and make sure it is completed."

"Then you would be going against your own rules would you not?"

"What is your point, Daniel?" The same judge asked, the frustration clear in his voice.

"This trial should not even be taking place. If according to your own rules, I should be able to attain enlightenment on my own, then I should be left in the state I was in until I can do so."

Silence filled the room as the stunned audience and judges tried to understand what Daniel was saying. It remained eerily quiet in the room for what seemed like an eternity before the leader of the judges began to speak.

"Is it our understanding that you wish to remain in your current state until you can ascend on your own?"

Daniel nodded. "I can still interact with the world in this state, can I not?"

"It is possible, yes."

"Then that is what I wish. When I'm ready I will be able to ascend on my own, and I won't need anyone's help to do so."

"Very well. We will convene to decide on this matter." The judge spoke and Daniel nodded in understanding.

Jack glared at Daniel from his spot on the bench and raised his arms in confusion at what the younger man was doing. A moment later Daniel stepped down from the podium and moved to the bench, taking a seat beside the General. The judges dismissed themselves so that they could deliberate, while Daniel and the others were led out of the room and down a long hallway, to another room so they could wait.

"Are you nuts!" The words flew out of Jack's mouth once the door had closed behind them, and the six of them were alone in the room.

"No Jack, I'm not. I know exactly what I'm doing."

Jack rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Well, excuse me if I don't see how that's possible."

"The General is right, Daniel. This makes no sense." Sam raised her arms to emphasize her point, but Daniel simply shook his head.

"I've been thinking about this since Oma told me what was going to happen. I didn't want to be Ascended, and that's why I couldn't do it before. Subconsciously, I knew that before I tried to Ascend when the Replicator ship was destroyed."

Shrugging his shoulders Jack groaned. "Not following you, Danny."

"Just trust me, Jack."

> > > >

The room was silent as the judges waited for Daniel to step to the podium. He straightened himself up and waited as the head judge began to speak.

"We have decided…" There was a momentary pause and judge fixed his eyes on Daniel as he finished the sentence. "…not to grant your request. It is the finding of this panel that you be returned to your former state of existence."

"WHAT!" The General was shouting as he stood up from his seat, not noticing the shocked look on Daniel's face or the stranger starting to walk towards the judges from the center of the room.

Jack got between the judges and Daniel before the head judge could stand to stop him. "You have no say in this matter, Janus. Be seated!"

"NO!" Defiantly, Jack stood his ground, his facial expression practically daring the judge to respond.

"Daniel agreed to our terms. He agreed to accept whatever punishment this panel came to an agreement on. This has nothing to do with you."

"He doesn't, but I do!" A deep voice coming from the back of the room caught everyone by surprise.

"Who are you?" The judge asked as a tall sandy-haired man stepped forward and moved beside the podium where Daniel was standing.

"My name is Ayola, and I request to be heard by this panel."

Jack thought for a moment as the name rang in his head. It was familiar and a moment later he remembered where he'd heard it before. He shared a brief glance at the other man, and wondered just what this stranger had to do with Daniel.

"What right have you to interfere with this trial?" One of the female judges spoke up from her seat on the far left of the panel.

"If he is returned to his previous state of existence he will die. By right, I am allowed to take his place."

The room shook with a cacophony of shocked whispers and sounds. The female judge shook her head in confusion.

"What right do you speak of?"

"He is of the same lineage as I. By blood right I ask to take his punishment."

Daniel was reeling as he gripped the rail of the podium for support. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't understand."

Ayola turned to the still confused man and stepped onto the podium with him. "I realize you don't know me, but I have been watching over you many years now. You are the last of my lineage, and I cannot bear to see it end in such a manner."

"How is that possible?"

Before Ayola could answer, Jack stepped up and began to speak. "He's right. I didn't realize until just now, but he's telling the truth."

Daniel's jaw nearly hit the floor as he raised his arms in utter bewilderment. "Please explain."

"You're…it can't be… you are aren't you?" Jack asked Ayola, and the Ascended man nodded in silent reply.

"You do remember me?" With a nod Jack took another step closer to Ayola and Daniel.

Before Jack could say anymore, the judges spoke up, causing them to turn in their direction in surprise. "As fascinating as it is that you two seem to know one another, it is still quite unclear to us what the connection is."

The center judge crossed his arms over his chest after motioning for Ayola to step forward. The Ascended man did as requested and leaned forward so that only the judges could hear his words.

"I will submit to whatever means you require to attest to my blood right to take young Daniel's place."

The female judge on the far left stood up and walked around the table where she had been seated. She moved close enough to touch Ayola, and he bowed his head allowing her to reach her hand out towards him. The room was silent as the judge placed her hand on his head, light emanated from her fingertips. There was a slight grimace on Ayola's face as the judge extracted the information she required and then slowly brought her hand back to her side.

"He speaks the truth." She announced and then hastily made her way back to her seat as the room erupted with noise.

The judge at the center of the table rapped his fist on the table to quiet the room, and then turned his attention to Ayola. "This panel will retire to consider your request. Bear this in mind, once we have decided you will abide by the decision, whatever it may be."

"Understood."

With that the judges disappeared and Jack, Daniel, and the others were left staring blankly at one another. Ayola returned to where Daniel was still standing at the podium, and Jack joined them.

"I had no idea you'd ascended." Jack reached a hand out to touch Ayola's cheek.

"That is a long story, Uncle."

"Uncle?" Daniel's voice went up an octave as he shrieked in confusion. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"

Ayola laughed softly to himself and then turned to Jack. The two men stare at each other a moment before responding.

"Well, as you may have guessed, we are related." Daniel glared at Ayola, less than impressed with the other man's simple statement.

"I really think I need more than that…what did you say your name was?"

"Ayola."

"When did you change your name?" Jack's question made Daniel shake his head in defeat.

"This is making no sense."

"Please. Allow me to explain." Ayola reached out and took hold of Daniel's shoulder, leading him towards the bench where Oma and the others were waiting.

Daniel took a seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, talk. How is Jack your uncle? And how the hell are we related? And what the heck does Jack mean by changing your name?"

Ayola smiled and nodded. "Very well. Janus, or rather Jack as you call him, was friends with my father. They did research together until he was killed by the Wraith. Jack and my father were close, and I have always called him my uncle, though I suppose we are not truly kin."

Jack nodded in agreement. "Your father was as close to family as I'd ever had."

"Jerron?" Daniel spoke the name as he began to connect the dots in what Ayola was saying.

"Yes, Jerron was his father." It was Jack that responded when Ayola seemed to choke up at the mention of his father's name.

"How is it possible for us to be related? And what about your name?" Daniel asked as he raised his arms in confusion.

"As for my name, I did change it. When I Ascended, I chose a new name. Jaylen was the name my parents gave me. Jack could probably explain how we're related as well as I can." Ayola cocked his head in Jack's direction and the older man's eyes nearly bulged out of his head in surprise.

"Jack?"

The General ran his hand through his silver hair with a heavy sigh. "Um…well, after Jerron died, his wife decided to leave the rest of the Ancients. She wanted nothing to do with the Ascensions that were taking place. She took her family and went to live with the humans that were living outside the city. Her children married and had children, and those children had kids…yadda, yadda, yadda, several generations later you came along."

"Okay, that's the short explanation. Why didn't you tell me any of this, Jack?"

"Tell you what, Daniel? That I made a promise to a dying friend to look after his family and that for thousands of years I've done the best I could to do just that; watching generations of them grow up and making sure they were as safe as I could make them? Even after I told you what I was, would you really have believed me if I said anything?"

Daniel's breathing grew more rapid as he clinched his fists together. "Wait a minute. You've known all along about me? You watched me grow up? What about my parents! Did you watch them die! Did you watch Nick turn me away too! Did you just watch while I went through all that!"

The pain and anger was clear in Daniel's eyes and Jack lowered his head. "I…There's nothing…It's not that simple, Daniel."

"What you mean you didn't just sit back and let me go through hell in foster care, growing up completely alone! You don't sound that much different from the rest of the Ancients."

The words stung as Jack listened to his friend say them, knowing that in his eyes that is exactly what it must look like. He tried to take a step closer to Daniel, but the younger man shot him a fierce glare that made him rethink the action.

"I didn't know your parents had left Egypt until after the accident. By the time I got to New York, you'd already been placed in foster care. It took years for me to track you down. By then there was nothing I could do. I didn't just let it all happen to you, Daniel. If I could have stopped it I would have. Please believe that."

Daniel stood up and pushed past Jack and Ayola, the fury boiling over inside him as he slammed his fist against the side of the podium. Sam and Oma were quick to go to him.

"How could he!" Daniel ground his teeth as he looked up at the two women.

"Calm yourself, Daniel. Anger only clouds your judgment." Oma shook her head at Daniel and the younger man sighed.

"How can I not be angry? I just found out…" Daniel groaned loudly. "I don't even know what it is that I found out. I can't even say Jack lied to me, but…"

His sentence trailed off and Sam reached her hand out towards him. "This is all kinda strange, but it actually makes a lot of sense now that I think about it."

"What do you mean?"

"This explains why the Colonel has always been so protective of you over the years. I always thought it was just that you were the civilian on the team, but there always seemed to be something more to it. Maybe his overprotectiveness in the field was his way of making up for not being able to be there for you when you were a child."

Daniel brought his hand to his head, not sure how to respond. He cast a glance in Jack's direction and sighed heavily, letting Carter's words sink in.

"Jack, he just needs some time to figure this out for himself." Jack turned as Jacob squeezed his shoulder in understanding.

"I should have told him."

"You cannot change the past, only deal with the now." Ayola's words made sense, but gave Jack little comfort.

A moment later Daniel approached Jack and the others, with Oma and Sam just behind him. His eyes were focused on Ayola as he neared the group.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked in a quiet voice

"As I said, you are the last of my bloodline. I wish for it to continue even if I cannot."

"You're willing to give your life for me, and you don't even know if I'm worth it." The rest of the group shouted in disbelief, but Daniel waved them off. "Seriously, what makes you think I deserve any of this?"

Ayola smiled warmly at Daniel and took the younger man's hands in his. "Jack is not the only one that has watched over my family. I have seen all that you've accomplished over the years, and there is still much for you to do."

"How can you know that?"

Jack's voice caught Daniel's attention and he turned towards him. "The same way the rest of us know you're worth it, Daniel."

> > > >

The judges entered the room, taking their seats quickly. Daniel and Ayola were standing together at the podium, watching carefully as the judges quieted the room so they could speak.

"Blood right is held in the highest regard, and as such this panel sees no reason why we should not honor your request. You will be allowed to take Daniel's punishment in his stead, and Daniel will be sent back to Earth unharmed. You will have until the end of Janus's trial to prepare yourself."

The judge's words hit Daniel hard as he turned to Ayola. The older man merely nodded in agreement, reminding Daniel of Teal'c's stoic manner as he did so. Quietly, they stepped down from the podium and returned to the benches where Jack and the others were seated.

"Janus, step forward." Jack did as the judge told him, moving to the podium with haste. "Do you still wish to speak on your own behalf?"

He opened his mouth to respond, when he heard a voice behind him speak. "I will speak for him."

"Have you not already done enough?" The judge glared at Ayola curiously as the young man shook his head.

"You said I have until Janus's trial is ended before my punishment will take place, and as I am an Ascended I am allowed to speak for him. I merely wish to do so."

Jack turned to protest, but seeing the determined look on Ayola's face he held his tongue. The head judge waved his hand to give Ayola permission and waited for him to take his place beside Jack on the podium.

"You have been accused of using your powers as an Ancient to willfully and without cause take the lives of five beings. Using your powers was a direct violation of your current punishment, In accordance with the laws of the Ancients and Ascendeds if we find you guilty, the penalty is death. Do you understand, Janus?"

Jack sighed and shook his head. "I understand."

"You and your speaker may plead your case now."

Ayola turned to Jack as the head judge rested his hand on the table in front of him. "Janus doesn't deserve to die. His actions were taken in an attempt to protect his planet, his home. That is no crime, it is his right to protect that which is his own."

The female judge on the far left of the table tapped her hand on the table and shook her head. "Janus is not a Tau'ri of Earth. He is an Ancient. How is it that you claim Earth is his home?"

"Ma'am, I have lived on Earth for over 10,000 years. I may not have been born on Earth, but it's my home in every sense of the word." Jack did his best to sound respectful, but the sneer the judge was giving him was making it difficult.

Again the judge shook her head. "It is the place of your previous punishment, not your home."

"If Earth is not his home, then what would this court consider to be his home?" Ayola asked as turned his head left and then right, scanning the faces of each judge.

"The planet of his birth of course." Jack shook his head at the female judge.

"Then perhaps you could tell us where that is?"

The head judge raised an eyebrow in curiosity as Jack again shook his head. "You do not know the place of your birth, Janus?"

"No sir. When I was a baby, some scientists found me alone on a small spacecraft drifting along in the middle of this solar system. I had been hidden away in a storage compartment. No one knew where the ship had come from or where it was going, only that it had been attacked and everyone onboard killed, save me." From the corner of his eye, Jack could see the surprised reaction of his teammates as he spoke.

"So your claim is that because you have more time on this planet than any other, it is your home, and you were allowed to defend it any way you saw fit?" The female judge sounded almost hostile in her tone, and Jack struggled with the impulse to curse the woman for her behavior.

"I was only doing what needed to be done."

"Then you admit to taking those lives?" The frustration was clear in Jack's face as the female judge taunted him with her question.

"I wouldn't deny I killed those Wraith, but if I hadn't they would have done the same to me."

"Then this trial is over. You have as much as admitted your guilt."

The head judge raised his hand to silence the woman. "Do you admit to your guilt, Janus?"

Jack turned to Ayola and took a deep breath before answering. "No. I'm not admitting I'm guilty of anything."

"You admitted to killing the Wraith!" The female judge shouted as she slammed her fists on the table.

"I said I won't deny I killed them, but I did so to protect others. I had no choice."

"There is always a choice." Gritting his teeth, Jack closed his eyes as a feeling of rage began to pour over him.

The judges went silent as a soft red glow began to emanate from Jack, even Oma was surprised as Jack began to shake and then rapidly fell backwards and down the steps of the podium. Daniel was quick to run to Jack's side, and got there just as Ayola was bending down to touch Jack's still shaking hand.

"What happened?" Daniel knew he must have been shouting, but he didn't care. His only concern was for his friend, still convulsing on the floor beside him.

"I am not certain, Daniel." Ayola stared back at the younger man, their concerned expressions matching those of Oma and the others already making their way closer to their fallen friend.

The trial had careened to a halt as two of the judges left their seats and went to Jack's side. The first judge went to lay his hand on Jack's chest, but quickly pulled it back when the red glow touched him, causing a slight spark. It was obvious by the expression on the judge's face that was not the reaction he had been expecting. He slowly turned to the second judge, who appeared to be as confused as he was.

The red glow began to expand around Jack's body and everyone but Daniel quickly pulled away. The archeologist kept Jack's hand firmly in his grip and tried not to scream as a searing pain ripped through him as the red glow passed over him. A moment later the pain ceased as the glow completely enveloped him. He looked around to see that all eyes were trained on Jack and himself as they began to lift ever so slowly off the ground.

"What is the meaning of this!" The head judge's voice pierced the stunned silence in the room as Jack and Daniel floated into the air and hovered just above the podium.

Daniel felt Jack's body stop shaking and looked down to see his friend staring up at him with a slightly confused expression on his face.

"What's going on, Danny?"

"I was hoping you could answer that, Jack. All I know is that we're sorta floating in mid-air right now."

Jack lifted his head, carefully glancing around the room. In a split second the red glow disappeared and the two men found themselves falling. They landed with a thud, barely missing the podium as they gracelessly crashed into the floor in front of the judge's table.

"If this was a tactic to delay the decision of the panel, you have succeeded, but you will not sway us to your side with tricks such as this." The head judge growled at Jack as he slowly began to stand, holding firmly to the podium for balance.

Jack struggled to catch his breath and slowly began to speak. "I swear that was not my intention. I don't know what just happened."

"He lies! He only wishes to prolong this trial to delay his inevitable execution."

Daniel turned to face the female judge that had just spoken and raised his arms at her. "Why are you so quick to lay the guilt on Jack? He's barely had a chance to plead his case and yet you've already deemed him guilty. At least allow Ayola and Jack to finish speaking before you pass judgment."

"Your trial has ended, Daniel. This does not concern you." The head judge put his hand up to stop Daniel, but the young man shook his head.

"It does concern me. Jack is my friend, and for the better part of the last ten years he has been my family…the only family I've really had. Whatever his fate in the trial, it concerns me greatly."

Sam and Teal'c were nodding their heads in agreement with Daniel while Jacob and Oma stared open-mouthed in surprise at Daniel's sudden outburst. Jack, having finally gained his composure turned to Ayola and the young Ascended stepped forward and began to speak.

"Daniel is correct, and he is not the only one that can speak on Janus's behalf. They have come to do so as well, and it would behoove this panel to hear what they have to say before you judge Janus any further." He pointed towards Oma and the others who were now all nodding in the direction of the judges.

"Very well. Each of them will be allowed to speak, but first this panel wishes an explanation for what has just occurred."

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "As I've already said, I don't know what happened. I can't explain it."

The head judge motioned to the two judges that were still standing between the judge's table and the podium and they both took a few steps towards Jack. The first one placed a hand on Jack's forehead, while the other one placed her hand on Jack's chest. A blue light emanated from them both as they closed their eyes. Jack did the same and allowed their energy to flow through him. He could feel them searching his mind, and he did his best not to hinder them.

Moments later the judges stepped away from Jack and moved towards the judge's table. There was soft whispering among the judges before all the judges took their seats and the head judge began to speak.

"Janus, will you submit to another test?"

Jack raised an eyebrow in confusion and turned to Ayola and Oma hoping to get some sort of clue as to what was going on.

"What is it that he must be tested for?" Ayola asked stepped around the podium so that he was between Jack and the judges.

"Will you submit?" Jack balked at the judge's question and shook his head.

"Not until you tell me what this is about. I let those two poke around in my head already." He pointed to the two judges, now seated on the far right of the table. "What else do you want from me?"

"Submit to the test or this trial will be over and you will be sentenced to death." It was the angry female judge that spoke this time and Jack felt the rage begin to build in him once more.

"It sounds to me like this panel has already decided my fate. I never doubted your intent to see me to my death, so how about we dispense with the formality and just get on with it!"

"If this does not prove his guilt to this panel, I do not know what else will." The female judge stood and pointed her finger in Jack's direction. "He has already admitted to taking the lives he is accused of. His friends will not dispute that, and nor will they prove that he acted with just cause. This trial need not continue. I move that a verdict of guilty be handed down and we execute Janus immediately."

The room erupted with shouts from all around the room. Jack shook his head vehemently; then slammed his fist against the side of the podium as he shouted in frustration. It took the head judge several minutes to quiet the room and he was quick to call a recess. He allowed Jack and his friends to be taken down the hall, while the judges left to deliberate on the female judge's proposition.

> > > >

"Dammit! What the hell is going on!" Jack shouted once the door to the room had been closed.

"What did you do in there, Jack?" Jacob asked the question they all wanted an answer to, but the General merely shrugged his shoulders and let out a loud groan.

"I already said I don't know. I'm not even sure what really happened."

"What do you remember, sir?"

Jack turned to Carter and sighed. "I remember that bitch hassling me and I got angry, then I was up in the air with Daniel."

"That's it? You don't remember glowing red and then falling off the podium?" He stared blankly at Daniel, shaking his head.

"No. I just remember getting angry; it was almost like at the SGC, with the Wraith. When I…killed them."

"What do you mean?"

Jack turned to Jacob, brought his hand up to his face and ran his fingers down the bridge of his nose.

"When I was concentrating on using my power to stop the Wraith, it felt almost the same as when I got angry at that judge, except I remember killing those Wraith, and I don't remember anything after I looked at that judge like I wanted to kill her."

Oma took a step closer to Jack and then turned to Ayola. The two Ascendeds nodded in silent understanding and reached out towards Jack. He started to back away, but then stopped when their hands touched him. A surge of energy passed through him and he gasped in shock.

"What are you doing?" Daniel shouted as he tried to pull Jack from their grasp.

Once the contact was broken Jack fell backwards and into Teal'c's arms. The Jaffa was quick to help Jack stand up again and then stood securely behind him as Jack turned to Oma and Ayola.

"What is it? What did you see?" Jack started to reach his hand out to Oma, but she took a step back to avoid him.

"It is what the judges sensed in you. You are no longer what you were."

"What the hell does that mean, Desa?" She covered her mouth with her hand and looked away.

"You are no longer an Ancient…at least not as you were." It was Ayola that responded, and everyone was silent, unsure what the Ascended was trying to say. "The judges sensed that you have evolved."

"What! That makes no sense." Jack shook his head, leaning forward against the table in front of him.

"Doesn't it though? You have spent 10,000 years in that body. All life evolves, it is something that cannot be avoided."

"But the gene suppressor has kept me human?" It wasn't meant to be a question, but he knew as he said it that it was.

"It has forced your body to evolve and find another way for your Ancient genes to be used." Ayola's words were slowly sinking in, as Jack took a seat in the chair that Teal'c was pushing up behind him.

"Are you saying that Jack's Ancient cells have somehow, over time begun to turn back on?" Jacob asked trying to make sense of what he was hearing.

"Yes, in a matter of speaking." Ayola nodded and turned to Jack. "I think it was the use of the Ancient database. The download caused a malfunction in the gene suppressor. Oma and I could sense it inside you…only it isn't suppressing your Ancient cells anymore, the device has absorbed itself into your system and it's made your cells stronger."

"Stronger?" Jack stared at Ayola in confusion.

"You may not realize it, but you are almost as strong as an Ascended."

Sam and Daniel gasped in shock and Jack brought his hand to his head.

"How is that possible?" Jack sighed looking first at Oma and then at Ayola. "This makes no sense."

"Perhaps not, but I do not believe the judges will view this or the earlier incident, in your favor."

Ayola nodded in agreement with Oma as Jack shook his head. "You're right about that, Desa. I feel like I've already lost this case, I just wish I knew why they have it in for me so bad. I mean I know I broke the rules, but it's not like I'm the first to ever do it, and that woman out there keeps looking at me like she wants to kill me."

"He's right. That judge seems out to get Jack in an awfully bad way, more so than any of the other judges. They're at least willing to hear Jack's side of the story, but she's already pegged him as guilty." Daniel's arms were crossed over his chest as he moved a few steps closer to Jack.

"Why is that?" Everyone went silent at Jacob's question, and Jack began to pace the floor in front of them, nervously rubbing his hands together.

Oma opened her mouth to speak and then quickly closed it turning away from the group. They all watched in curiosity as she started for the door.

"I must go. I will return before the trial ends." She gave no more of an explanation as she exited the room, leaving Jack and the others staring at the empty space where she had been standing with matching looks of bewilderment on all of their faces.

A few minutes later the door to the room opened and a guard notified them that the judges were ready to proceed with the trial. Quietly the group started for the door, marching through it like defeated soldiers on their way to the POW camp.

It was a slow walk back to the trial room, and Jack kept his head down as he walked. The others couldn't help but notice the defeated posture and hopeless attitude their friend now showed, and it tore at them as they watched him step back up to the podium, waiting for the judges to speak.

The room was eerily silent as Jack watched the judges across the floor from him. With a sigh he straightened his stance and gripped the edge of the podium as the head judge nodded in his direction.

"It is not the nature of this court to determine another's guilt without first hearing all pertinent information before a verdict is rendered. With that in mind, the panel is not willing to pass judgment until we have heard all the facts of this case. Despite the previous interruption you will be given ample time to plead your case." The judge paused and Jack looked straight at him. "You and your speaker may proceed."

Ayola was quick to get to his feet and move towards the podium to address the panel. "We thank the court for agreeing to hear us. First, we would like to ask that the humans that were present during the incident in question be allowed to speak."

The waved a hand in agreement and Ayola turned to Jacob, motioning for him to come forward. Slowly, Jacob did so, leaning in to whisper to Ayola once he was right beside him.

"What do I do?"

"I will ask a few questions and you need simply speak truthfully of what you witnessed. The panel will then question you." Without another word, Ayola positioned Jacob in front of the podium, and began to address the panel once more. "I present the first witness."

There was a moment of whispered communication between the judges before they all nodded for Ayola to continue.

"Please state your name and how you are acquainted with Janus."

Jacob straightened his posture and nodded. "My name is Jacob Carter, and I know Janus…or rather Jack, because he and my daughter saved my life."

"How did that come about?"

He took a deep breath and then responded. "I was dying, Jack and Sam brought me to another planet so that I could become host to a Tok'ra symbiote."

"Are you still host to the symbiote?"

"Yes, I am." Jacob lowered his head and then brought it back up with eyes glowing, signaling that Selmak had taken control. "Jacob and I are still blended."

"You were both present at the time of the incident in question?"

Selmak smirked. "Being that my host and I share body and mind, it is difficult for one to be present without the other."

Jack stifled a laugh at the Tok'ra's sense of humor, but the rest of the room began to laugh.

"Answer the question, please."

"I apologize. Jacob and I were both there at the time the Wraith were killed."

The judge nodded to Ayola, and the Ascended continued. "Can you and Jacob tell us exactly what happened at that time?"

Selmak lowered his head to allow Jacob to speak. "The alarms went off all over the base signaling an unscheduled activation of the gate. Sam, Teal'c and myself went to the control room to find out who was coming through. Jack was already in the gateroom at the time. One of his men had been thrown through the gate. He was dead. Before the body could be removed, shots came through the gate. There was no way to close the gate fast enough, and the Wraith came though. Jack moved to get out the way, taking the dead soldier's body with him. Those of us in the control room couldn't get to the gate because Jack had already ordered the doors closed. The Wraith killed everyone in the room, but I guess they didn't see Jack because of the dead guy on him. They started to go for the door when Jack made his presence known. Jack told them to put their weapons down. He warned them, said he didn't want to hurt them, but they ignored him and kept trying to open the door. They had almost succeeded when he…stopped them."

Jacob paused and looked up at the judge. "Continue. How did Janus stop the Wraith?"

"There was a red light that sort of enveloped the whole room. It made it hard to see anything. When the light disappeared there was nothing but ashes on the floor where the Wraith had been standing."

The room erupted with shouts from various voices and the head judge raised his arms to quiet everyone. It took a moment, but the room quieted enough for the Ayola to speak.

"What would have happened if the Wraith had made it through the door?"

"The Tok'ra cannot be expected to see into the future that did not happen!" The female judge shouted causing Jacob to cross his arms over his chest.

"I may not see into the future, but it was obvious that if those Wraith had gotten onto the base they would done a lot of damage. Those soldiers that died threw everything at them and they kept coming. There were only five of them and at least 20 of our soldiers and none of our firepower stopped them. Jack did all he could!"

The head judge stood up and Jacob put his hands up as if to surrender. "This panel has heard your words and we will give them due credence. Unless you have another question for him, Ayola, I believe this witness has said enough."

"No I do not." Ayola shook his head and then motioned for Jacob to return to his seat.

He could feel the sweat already pouring down his face as he sat back down, bringing his hand to his head to wipe his brow. It was obvious that the judges were blatantly against Jack, and the former general couldn't shake the feeling that this trial wasn't going to end in the SGC leader's favor.

> > > >

"Where have you been?" She asked as she stepped through the door at the end of the long corridor.

"We sensed what happened with the judges. All of the Outcasts sensed it. You have no idea what this is doing, Oma."

"I have a good idea, Tenal. Now tell me what you've called me here for." The frail Ascended shook his head as he nervously ran his hand through his unkempt hair.

"Athar is on her way. She and many of the Outcasts are planning to stop the Others if they decide against Janus."

Oma lowered her head in shock. "This can't be."

"It can; and it is. She is furious. She was never told that he still lived."

Lifting her head slightly, Oma nodded. "They lied to her?"

"The Others told her that he died along with Jerron."

For a moment Tenal could see what he could only describe as rage in the other Ascended's eyes, and he nervously backed away.

"Tell no one what you have told me. Go to the trial, and wait for me there." Tenal looked agape at Oma as she turned to leave him.

"But…" She quickly put up a hand to stop him.

"Keep silent. I will return before the verdict is given. Trust in me, Tenal."

He nodded quietly as she spirited herself away with all the haste she could muster. Once she was gone, Tenal hurried out of the room, heading towards the trial area as Oma had told him.

The trial continued on for what seemed like ages as Sam and then Teal'c were asked to speak on Jack's behalf. They both told a similar story to Jacob's and Ayola began to feel as though the judges might be leaning slightly more in their favor, though he wasn't quite certain. Finally, as Teal'c stepped away from the podium and went back to his seat, the head judge began to speak.

"Have you anymore witnesses for us to hear?"

Jack and Ayola shared a quick glance and Ayola nodded to the judge. "No, we do not."

"Very well. Janus, do wish to say anything else on your own behalf?"

Taking a deep breath Jack nodded. "I have only this to say…I did kill those Wraith, but only in defense of a planet that a previous judgement left me to do my penance on. I don't regret my actions, though I do regret that it's come to this. I did what I did to protect the people I've come to care about, and if given the chance to redo things, I would still have done the same. I couldn't let the Wraith destroy my people. If this panel sees fit to decide against me, then so be it. I wasn't wrong, and whatever this panel decides won't change that fact."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest and the judge stood. "We will retire to consider all the information brought before us. You and your speaker will be returned to the waiting room until we have reached a decision."

With that the judges all stood and left, while Jack and Ayola went back to the room they had been in before, with Daniel and the others just behind them.

"We made a good argument back there. The judges have to see that." Sam tried to sound positive, but Jack shook his head in disagreement with her.

"They'll see what they want to see. The only reason they let us finish was because they didn't want to look bad. They decided my fate before I stepped foot in front of them."

"How can you be so cynical, Janus?"

Jack shot the Ascended a glare that would have sent most running for cover. "Don't call me that. I haven't been that person for 10,000 years. Janus died along with your father."

Ayola seemed taken aback at the mention of his father. "I'm sorry."

There was a long silence before Daniel finally broke it with a question. "Am I the only one that realizes that once this is over, Jack may not be the only one that dies?"

The exasperation was clear in the young man's voice as his eyes locked with Ayola's. "I have made my peace with what is to come, Daniel."

"You're going to die so that I can live. How am I supposed to let you do that?"

Jack took a step towards Daniel and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He wants you to live, Danny."

"You could die for what you did to save the SGC, and someone I hardly know is going to die for me, Jack. How the hell did this happen!"

Sam, Jacob, and Teal'c moved a bit closer to the two men and Daniel looked at each of them as he shook his head, not sure what else to say.

"None of this is fair. No one should have to die." Jack nodded in agreement with Sam.

"Unfortunately that's just not the way it works."

"You all speak as though the decision has already been made. There is still time." They all glared at Ayola as though he'd lost his mind, and Jack took a step towards him.

"What do you know that we don't?"

Ayola shook his head. "Nothing. I merely have more faith than you appear to have."

The group continued to talk amongst themselves for a few more minutes before they were called back into the trial room. They quietly walked back inside and took their seats as the judges entered the room and did the same. Jack took his place at the podium, and to everyone's surprise they saw Oma step into the room just as the judge began to speak.

Jack stood with his head held high as the judge spoke. "After carefully considering this case and all that was brought before us, this panel finds you guilty. Being that you were already under punishment when this incident occurred, the only punishment we can give you is death. Your sentence will be carried out along with the punishment of Ayola. Have you any last words before we commence with the sentencing?"

Shaking his head Jack sighed. He glared at the judges, and his eyes locked with the female judge that had taunted him earlier. She was almost smiling as Jack stepped down from the podium to stand beside Ayola in front of the panel. His anger began to rise and he felt his control begin to slip away ever so slowly.

"Very well. We will begin the sentencing immediately."

The female judge and another judge that had been seated at the opposite end of the table stepped around the table and approached Jack and Ayola. Daniel and the others stood up and shouted for the judges to reconsider, but the head judge raised his hand to silence them.

"The cases have been heard, and our decisions are final. If you do not wish to remain here we will gladly return you to Earth."

At that they all went silent, Oma placing a hand on Daniel's shoulder to calm him. The judge motioned for the other two judges to continue and they both took their places in front of Jack and Ayola. They both reached out their hands and placed them on either side of both men's heads, closing their eyes as they did so.

Intense pain shot through Jack's head and he felt himself begin to fall. He could see a strange light surround him as the pain increased.

Daniel and the others could see their leader as he writhed in obvious pain. Then they watched as Ayola and Jack appeared to lose their physical form. It was as though their bodies were being broken down piece-by-piece and in effect disintegrating and disappearing before their very eyes.

Suddenly a loud shout from across the room got everyone's attention and stopped the two judges in their tracks. Jack and Ayola fell to the floor in a heap while Daniel and the others watched as a slender brunette stepped forward, stopping only when she reached the judge's table.

"You will not do this." Her voice was firm, as she leaned in to look the head judge square in the eyes.

"They are guilty and as such are being punished."

"If you continue this, the repercussions will not be pleasant." She turned for a moment and pointed to Jack as she spoke again. "I know why you want him dead, and I will not allow you take his life or Ayola's."

The judge laughed and shook his head. "You cannot stop us."

"Alone I cannot, but I did not come here alone." The strange woman smiled at the judge and turned towards the doorway. The room began to fill with glowing beings, and the other Ascended in the room shouted in disdain as they too began to take their glowing form.

"This is madness; Outcasts such as you cannot interfere in this!"

Daniel and the others gasped as they looked around the room. It was then that they noticed that Oma had joined the stranger in front of the judge.

"You have brought this on yourselves. Too many times have you tried to stop those of us that only wished to help, and punished us for being willing to do what others will not." Oma began to glow as she spoke and her voice seemed to shake the room.

The stranger nodded in agreement. "Desa speaks the truth. Enough damage has been done because of what you judges and others like you have done to those of us that care, and who choose to help the Tau'ri and any other species that you would consider as lesser beings. It stops now!"

All the judges shrank back in their seats and the two that had been punishing Jack and Ayola moved towards Oma and the stranger.

"Who do you think you are!" The female judge shouted as she reached a hand out to touch the stranger.

"Who I am is of no consequence. I am merely another Outcast from the many that judges like yourself have banished for trying to save those they care for."

The stranger raised her right hand, her palm facing the judge as she closed her eyes. The room was silent as the judge was lifted in the air and throw backwards into the nearby wall. Before anyone else could say anything, Oma turned to Daniel and the others.

"Take Jack and Ayola. Follow Tenal. He will keep you safe."

For a moment they all froze in their tracks, but they quickly recovered and grabbed their fallen friends and carried them out of the room, following Tenal. There were a few shouts from judges to stop the humans from leaving, but Oma and the stranger used their Ascended powers to stop anyone that tried to hinder the group's leaving.

Teal'c and Jacob were quick to grab Jack and Ayola, following behind Sam and Daniel as the group started towards the doorway leading out of the trial room. As they approached it, several Ascendeds moved in their direction but were quickly forced back by Tenal and the stranger that ushered them out the door. Tenal led them out, then down a long corridor. As they neared the end of the corridor a doorway came into view.

"We must get them to safety." Tenal shook his head as he glanced at the still unconscious men being carried towards him.

Jack was cradled in Teal'c's massive arms while Jacob held Ayola. Tenal reached out a hand towards the door and roughly pulled it open; it hit the wall with a resounding thud.

Sam took a step forward to look through the now open door, all she could see was a bright light and what appeared to be large shadows floating around in the light. She gasped and turned back to Tenal and the others. "What is that?"

"There is little time to explain." The voice came from behind them; they turned and stared in surprise at a familiar face.

"Skaara?" Daniel reached out towards the smiling young man who took his hand in response.

"We will have time to speak later. Now we must go." With that Skaara let go of Daniel and quickly moved past him. "Tenal and I will guide you all."

The two Ascendeds shared a quick glance and then instructed everyone to join hands. They were all linked together as Tenal and Skaara led them through the door and into the light.

> > > >

The klaxons blared through the SGC as Colonel Reynolds led a group of SFs to the gateroom. They arrived in time to see the event horizon erupt through the gate, the iris promptly closing over it. A glowing figure passed through the trinium covering and stopped at the end of the ramp. Reynolds and the SFs had their weapons trained on the glowing being as they waited for some sign as to what the creature wanted with them. Everyone watched cautiously as the being moved closer to the Colonel, stopping just in front of him, reaching out a tentacle-like appendage to cover Reynolds's right hand.

An image popped into the Colonel's mind and he gasped in surprise, then shouted for the SFs to stay back. A moment later he was assaulted with more images, and stumbled to his knees as the images poured through him. The gate shut down and the being lifted Reynolds's off the ramp and into the air, carrying him away from the Stargate.

> > > >

The world around them seemed to be spinning, then ground to a halt as they opened their eyes. They found themselves standing in the briefing room, much as they had been before Oma arrived to ask for their help, only this time Jack and Ayola were also there, lying across the center of the table in a heap. The group quickly gathered themselves and set to checking on their two friends who had not regained consciousness.

Daniel blinked and reached to touch his face. "That was…different."

Sam smirked and shook her head. "Tell me about it. We had to do that to get to wherever it was your trial was taking place."

Skaara bent down and placed a hand on Jack's forehead. "They are not safe here. Tenal and I must take them with us."

Daniel turned to Skaara, concern clearly written on his face. "Will they be alright?"

"They will be fine, Dan-yel. We will care for them."

"Why can't they stay here?" Sam asked as she rested her hand on Jack's forehead, nearly yanking her hand back at the icy feel to the General's skin.

"The Others will be looking for them. Skaara and I will take them someplace safe, where we can tend to them." The group didn't look pleased with Tenal's answer, but the Ascended shook his head and stepped forwards to take Jack. "We haven't the time to quarrel over this. You must let us help him."

Reluctantly Sam and Teal'c stepped away from their injured comrades and allowed Tenal and Skaara to take hold of them.

"We will return soon, Dan-yel."

"Where are you taking them?" Skaara smiled softly and shook his head at Daniel.

"We will take them somewhere safe. That is all you need to know."

Before anyone could say another word, a group of SFs burst through the door.

The leader of the group stepped forward, still clutching his weapon tightly to this chest. He stared at the room's inhabitants in confusion, until his eyes settled on Sam. "Colonel Carter?"

"What is it, airman?" She took a step towards him.

"Colonel Reynolds has disappeared, ma'am."

"What do you mean disappeared!"

The young airman gulped and lowered his head. "A glowing…creature…being…came through the gate and took him."

Sam turned to Skaara and Tenal for the briefest of moments and then turned back to the nervous looking airman.

"Took him through the gate?"

"Yes ma'am. It came through and Colonel Reynolds got close to it. It reached out to touch him and he told us to back away, then it just sorta swallowed him up and then turned on the gate and went through."

"Did you get coordinates?"

"We're trying to redial, but we can't get a lock."

Colonel Carter was about to speak when Tenal stepped forward. "I believe we may be of assistance in this matter. Skaara and I must take O'Neill and Ayola with us, but we will check on your Colonel Reynolds once we are safely away from here."

Sam stared blankly at the two Ascendeds who were already moving to carry Jack and Ayola to the gate. She nodded quickly and Teal'c and Jacob joined in to help Tenal and Ayola.

"When will we hear from you again?" Daniel asked as they left the conference room.

"Do not worry, Dan-yel. It should not be long." Skaara's words did nothing to comfort Daniel or the others, but they could say nothing in response.

A few minutes later Tenal waved a hand in front of the gate and it immediately sprang to life, the event horizon erupting forth. Together Tenal and Skaara took the General and Ayola in their arms and started up the ramp towards the Stargate. Daniel and the others watched in silence as the two Ascendeds left through the gate with their leader without another word.

As the gate shut down, Daniel turned to face Sam and the others. His expression said all that needed to be said. They were all afraid for Jack and for Ayola. Though they weren't entirely certain what had happened when they were with the Ascendeds earlier, they knew that something big was happening and they had somehow managed to end up right in the middle of it.

> > > >

Tenal and Skaara stepped away from the gate and placed their charges on the waiting stretchers. Beside the stretchers were two other Ascended, who each took hold of a stretcher and began to help Tenal and Skaara carry the two men away. In a flash they were moving from the Stargate and towards a small village a few miles down the dirt path.

"This O'Neill is far stronger than the Others realized is he not?" Tenal asked as he and Skaara reached the village.

"O'Neill is the One. He does not yet know what he has become, but he soon will."

Tenal gasped in surprise at Skaara's words and they quickened their pace coming to a halt just outside a temple-like structure in the center of the city. The heavy stone doors gently swung open to allow them access and they quickly stepped inside, letting the doors close behind them with a deafening thud.

They set the stretchers down at the end of the corridor where Oma was waiting for them with a look of concern on her face.

"Why didn't you come straight here, Tenal?" She asked as she bent down to get a closer look at Jack and Ayola.

"There wasn't time. We had to return the humans to their base first."

Oma sighed in frustration, and then moved her hand across Jack's chest. As she did so, the General moaned in pain. A moment later she was joined by the mysterious woman that had interrupted the trial.

"Were we too late, Desa?" There was a noticeable pain in the woman's voice, and Oma couldn't help but feel for her.

"I do not believe so. If you take care of Ayola, I will see to Jack. He is strong. I do not believe they had gotten far in the process before we intervened. He should be fine. They should both be just fine."

Several hours passed while the women attempted to heal Jack and Ayola. Tenal and Skaara had watched for a while, and then retreated to the other side of the temple. While there they encountered another Ascended tending to a human.

"Who is this?" Skaara asked as he approached the Ascended.

"I went to the Tau'ri home world to seek you out. Oma was disturbed that you had not arrived yet. I attempted to communicate with this human, but I am afraid I injured him somewhat. I brought him here so I could heal him; though I am afraid I upset his people when I did so."

"They were greatly concerned at his disappearance." The Ascended turned to Skaara and Tenal and lowered his head, feeling guilty for what he had done.

The Ascended moved his glowing hand over Colonel Reynolds's chest. A few minutes later the Colonel awoke, instinctively trying to get away from the three beings looking down at him. The Colonel was utterly confused at the sight before him. He recognized the glowing being from earlier at the SGC, but the other two people were not at all familiar. Neither glowed, so he assumed they were human. It took a moment to find his voice, and he could see that they were patiently waiting for him to gather himself enough to speak.

"Where…am…I?" He managed to squeak out, his throat feeling coarse and rough as the words left him.

"You are in a safe place. My friend accidentally harmed you when he tried to communicate with you earlier. He brought you here so that he could heal you. We will return you to your people soon." Skaara reached out a hand towards the Colonel, who hesitantly took it and allowed himself to be helped up.

"I am called Skaara. This is Tenal, and the one who you spoke with earlier is Miran." Colonel nodded quietly as he was introduced, and let himself be led away from the room he'd been in, and through the temple.

They stopped where Oma was tending to Jack and the Colonel took a step forward, gasping when he recognized his CO lying helpless on the ground while the woman moved her hands over his chest.

"What happened?" Reynolds looked at Skaara and Tenal as he spoke, and the two men sighed heavily before responding.

"Oma is trying to heal him. He was…injured."

Reynolds raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Will he be alright?"

"He should wake soon." Oma's voice caught them all by surprise and they turned to see her smiling at them.

"Is there any way I can contact my people and let them know I'm okay?"

Oma answered the Colonel's question with a shake of her head. "Not yet. Once Jack wakes you will both be sent back through the Stargate to the SGC."

"Oh…okay." Reynolds turned to look at his CO, who was still unconscious. "When might that be?"

Turning back to her patient Oma shrugged her shoulders. "Soon."

Obviously hoping for a clearer answer, the Colonel sighed and shook his head. Time went by as they all waited for Jack to wake. When Ayola woke, Reynolds followed Skaara to another part of the temple where they could get some food and drink and Jack was left with the stranger from the trial. The Ascended woman tended to him, gently pressing a cool cloth to his forehead every so often and whispering softly to him.

About an hour later Jack started to stir and the woman was by his side in an instant. She pressed her hand to his cheek and smiled softly as he opened his eyes. For a moment he merely blinked up at her as if unsure who she was or if she was even real. Slowly he began to sit up and reached out a hand to touch the woman's face.

"Chaya?"

Her smile broadened as she nodded. "Yes Janus. Your eyes are not deceiving you."

"But…you're dead."

Chaya chuckled as she shook her head. "If I were dead would I be able to do this?"

As the question left her lips she leaned down and pressed them to his. The kiss was chaste, but it left Jack wide-eyed as she pulled away.

"How…I don't understand…they told me you died…that the sickness had taken you." Jack held her hand tightly not wanting to let go.

"I was told that you and Jarron had died doing your time travel experiments. It wasn't until Tenal told me about the trial that I even knew you were alive. Desa came to me during the trial to tell me they were likely to execute you. I had to come."

"Well, I'm glad you did." Jack brought his hand back up to caress her cheek and felt a tear rolling down to touch his thumb.

They stared at one another in silence for what seemed like ages, tears streaming down both their faces as they gripped each other's hands as though they were lifelines. It wasn't until Colonel Reynolds returned with Skaara and Tenal that Jack and Chaya realized they were still staring at one another.

"General! You're awake." Colonel Reynolds was by Jack's side in a flash.

"That I am, Colonel." Jack stared up at the soldier and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Um, not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

"Well, one of the Ascendeds came to the base wanting information about you and SG-1's whereabouts. He sort of accidentally zapped me and then brought me here to fix me up. Apparently this particular Ascended was one of the younger ones and didn't know exactly what he was doing. From what I understand he nearly killed me."

The General brought his hand to his head, sighing heavily. "Lucky you."

"I guess if that's what you call lucky, sir."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, and smiled when he saw a familiar face peek around the Colonel's shoulder. "Skaara?"

"O'Neill! It is good to see you well."

Reynolds moved aside as the younger man bent down to take Jack's hand. The two embraced and then Skaara sat back and waited for the General to speak.

"What's going on? First Chaya and now you, I thought you went all glowy? How is that I can touch you?"

Skaara laughed and rolled his eyes at Jack. "Oma has taught me how to take human form when the need arises."

"Daniel could do that too, but I couldn't touch him."

"That was different. Things have changed since then."

Jack stared blankly at Skaara, then turned to where Chaya was now standing several feet away. "What the heck is going on? Where's Ayola?"

"We are having trouble healing him. The judges did much damage before we could stop them." Oma sighed as the concern on Jack's face increased.

"Will he be alright?"

"Only time will tell." He was less than pleased with Oma's answer, but he could tell by the look on her face it was truly the best that she could give me.

"What's going on with me?" Jack raised his arms

The Ascended woman lowered her head and looked away. She was about to speak when Desa spoke up from her place in the corner of the room where she had been quietly waiting since Skaara and the others had returned.

"You are not as you once were, Jack."

Rolling his eyes Jack groaned. "What does that mean?"

"You've been sensing the changes for months now. When you were able to sense the other Outcasts…The way you were able to destroy the Wraith that entered the base…you are no longer what you once were."

"Okay, I know I got some of my Ancient abilities back, but…"

"It is more than that, Janus." Chaya interrupted him as she took a few steps closer to him.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

They all watched as Jack got to his feet and moved to the opposite corner of the room, away from everyone else. He paced the floor for a moment trying to grasp what they were saying, but it still didn't make any sense to him.

"Do you remember when you killed Deygan, everyone was terrified at what you'd done?"

Jack winced as Oma brought back a memory he wished he could erase from his mind. "That's not something I'm likely to forget, Desa. What's it got to do with this?"

"People were afraid because no other Ancient had shown that sort of power; only someone who had Ascended was able to do that. I did not realize it until recently, but that is why they chose such a harsh punishment for you. They feared your power growing. I think with the combination of the two Ancient downloads and the gene suppression device that was implanted in you, you have evolved beyond anything the Others could have foreseen."

"That's crazy!" Jack turned away from Oma and his eyes met Chaya's. She nodded her head in agreement with Oma and Jack threw his arms in the air in disbelief. "This is all just insane! How exactly did you all come up with a cockamamie notion like this anyway!"

"Think about it, Janus! Desa is right. You know you have changed. Tell us you don't feel it. Look within yourself, and you will know we speak the truth."

For a moment Jack closed his eyes trying to push away what they were saying to him, but something about their words did resonate within him, and he groaned as he wildly shook his head.

"Even if what you say is true, what does it mean that I'm 'evolved'…or whatever the heck it is you think has happened to me?"

"You're the One, Jack."

Jack glared at Oma as if she'd suddenly grown another head. "The One what?"

Oma and Chaya stepped closer to Jack, invading his personal space as they reached out to touch his now shaking hands. He allowed the touch, but his eyes were intently focused on both of their faces as Oma slowly began to speak.

"Before the Wraith came to Atlantis, the priests said that one of us would come and free us from our bonds, that this warrior would set us free from those that would destroy us."

The General yanked himself away from the two women. "Are you mad! You think I'm some mythic warrior a bunch of priests foresaw over 10,000 years ago! I stopped believing in fairy tales and legends a long time ago, Desa. You've both gone mental if you actually believe this! You forget these are the same priests that swore that Ascension was the only way to save ourselves. I didn't believe them then, and don't believe you now."

"Let us explain, Jack. I didn't believe it either, until Chaya showed me the writings the priests left behind. Let us show them to you, and then decide for yourself. Please. Just give us a chance."

Oma pleaded with Jack and reluctantly he gave in, breathing a frustrated sigh as she turned to Skaara who was holding a box in his arms. He reached out to give it to her and she set in on the floor, motioning for Jack and the others to join her. Carefully, she pulled out a few rolls of parchment and two small crystals that were inside the small box.

Jack rolled the crystals over in his palm, and couldn't help but think there was something familiar about them. Shrugging the feeling off, he reached for the parchment, the crystals still in his hand. As he read the parchment the others noticed the crystals begin to glow a deep blue. For a moment Jack swore he heard a voice begin to whisper in his ear and he looked up from the parchment to see the others staring, transfixed by his still glowing hand.

In shock he dropped the parchment and opened his right hand. The crystals glowed brightly as he stared down at them. The whispering voice seemed to grow louder as the crystals got brighter. In seconds he could hear clearly what the voice was telling him, and he gasped as the crystals began to glow so brightly everyone had to close their eyes.

'We have been waiting for you.' The voice was now shouting and ringing in his ears and he cried out as the crystals suddenly imbedded themselves in his palm and ceased to glow.

The silence in the room was deafening as Jack slowly closed his eyes and fell backwards into unconsciousness.

tbc...


	4. Call to War

Chapter 4: Call to War

The temple priests bustled about as the sound of the approaching Wraith ships echoed through the halls. They hurried to gather their belongings and quickly made for the forest just beyond the temple walls. They'd run as fast as they could and had arrived unscathed, at a spot just past the tree line. One of the priests pulled a small device from his hands and pressed a button on it. A shuttlecraft materialized before them and they hurried inside once the door was opened.

They watched from the window of the ship as they flew over the temple, beaming many of their people away. Their hearts sunk low in their chests as they watched their world being destroyed before their very eyes.

"Why is this happening? We've obeyed the teachings, and still our destruction is at hand." One of the younger priests shouted as he slammed his fists against a side panel of the shuttle.

"Calm yourself, Aleron. This will not be our end." Aleron felt a hand touch his shoulder and sighed heavily, leaning into the touch as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"I do not understand, Hector. There seems to be no way to stop these creatures. They are determined to see our entire race destroyed."

Hector sighed as he shook his head. "That may be true, but we must hold to our beliefs. Our faith will save us. It will set us free from all that threatens us."

"Our belief in what? Where is this protector you have foreseen, Hector! No warrior has come forth to spare our race, and now is when we need him most. The Wraith have already taken over much of this galaxy, they may have already taken Atlantis. If they have then Earth will surely be next. Where is your protector and defender of the People? Why hasn't he come forward?"

The older priest watched the emotions play on Aleron's face as the younger man spoke; he knew that what the priest was saying was true. He'd seen his mythic protector in a dream and swore that it was a vision of the future. Even now he could clearly see the protector's face as he brought down their enemy with lightening and fire. Surely he could not have been wrong. Somehow he knew his vision was real, but he had no way of knowing when this protector would arrive or how to convince his brothers that this nightmare would pass.

"Aleron, listen to me. I know that my vision does not seem clear you. I will admit that I do not know when the protector will come, but he will do so. We must stay vigilant until then. We will take our place in the higher plane and go forth to teach others of the great pathway, when the time is right the protector will come. Believe me, my brother. Our people who have been lost today will not have made the sacrifice in vain. We must go on in their name and show others the true way. We are all that is left of the Brotherhood of the Ori, we must strive to keep order amongst our people until the time our protector arrives."

Hector reached into his robe and pulled out a small box, opening it to show the contents to Aleron. The younger man reached inside to pull out two crystals. He rolled them over in his palm and nodded his head in understanding as Hector continued to speak.

"We must keep these safe until the protector comes to claim them. The Brotherhood are the guardians of the sacred scrolls and the protectors of the crystals. Keep your faith, Aleron."

"I will, Hector. Though at times such as this, it is difficult to do so."

Hector squeezed Aleron's shoulder, the younger man welcomed the comforting touch. When they looked back towards the window the Wraith ships were leaving. Once they were out of sight, Hector signaled the pilot to start the ship up and they left their planet behind, hoping and waiting for the time when their protector would come.

> > > >

Jack opened his eyes blinking away the visions the crystals had shown him, and sat upright as the others moved quickly to his side. He could feel the crystals still imbedded into his palm and brought his hand up so he could take a look. They appeared to have attached themselves to the center of his hand, though they weren't hurting him in anyway. He tried to pull them out, but it was obvious they were deeply imbedded in his flesh.

He shook his head as the others bombarded him with questions; he moved his hand as if to tell them he needed space. Taking the hint, the others backed away and let the General ease himself away from them. The voice he'd heard before he passed out was still echoing in his mind, though it seemed to be saying more than he'd originally heard.

/Do you accept your task/ The strange voice didn't sound male of female but like a soft whispering waterfall in his ears.

/What task/

/You are the chosen one, Janus. We have been waiting for you for many years. We had almost given up hope that you would find us./

/I'm not sure I understand. By 'we' you mean the crystals/ Jack thought it was strange that he was having this discussion in his head, but then again it wasn't the strangest thing he'd ever experienced so he mentally shrugged off the feeling and waited for his new companion to respond.

/Yes. We are the crystals, but we belong to you now. We are one./

/You said you'd been waiting for me…how did you know I would come/

/We have existed since time began. It would be difficult to explain this in words, but if you will allow us, we will show you./

/Go ahead./

Jack closed his eyes as he felt a wave of energy wash over him. Suddenly images began to flash through his mind. He could see the universe just as it was before the Ancients came, before any other beings had touched and corrupted it. He could see the first creation of human beings, animals, and plant life on various planets through the galaxies. The crystals had existed as many forms of life and had watched the different galaxies evolve. Then he saw the destruction that had occurred once other species began to travel the galaxies; finally he saw the Wraith and the Goa'uld. He could see the devastation they had caused and a brief glimpse of what they were going to do in the future. This last image was burned into his mind as he saw what his purpose was to be.

/You're like some sort of inter-dimensional life forms aren't you/ Jack asked as more images continued to flow through his mind.

/We exist in different forms on each plane of existence./

/That's how you knew I would come./

/Yes. We have seen what is to come. We gave that vision to another of your kind and waited until they sought you out. Unfortunately, it took longer than we anticipated./

/How is that possible/

/Time is relative to us. We do not see it as your kind do. Time is something your people wish to control, for us it is merely another aspect of our existence. We accept it and move with it./

/What am I supposed to do? Or rather how I am I supposed to do this/

The beings in his mind seemed to laugh at his question though he wasn't certain why. /You will know when the time is right. For now you must return to Earth. You will be needed very soon./

The images stopped and it became clear to him just what these crystals were. He was about to open his eyes again, when a thought popped into his mind. /What do I call you/

/You may call us Valyn./

/What about Ayola? Can you tell me if he'll be alright?"/

/There is still much of his path left to travel, but he will not join in what is to come. Not this time./

Jack was glad to hear that his nephew would be alright, but he still wasn't sure how he was supposed to complete his task. As if sensing his thoughts Valyn responded.

/That will come in time, of course that is only if you accept./

"Then I accept." Not realizing he'd said that out loud, Jack looked up to see Oma and the others staring him with looks of confusion on their faces.

"Are you alright, Janus?" Chaya was the first to reach out to Jack, he nodded at her as he took her hand and stood up.

"We need to leave. Make sure that Ayola is taken care of. We have to get back to Earth now." Jack's voice brooked no argument, as he started to move towards the door with the others hot on his heels.

They all followed the determined General out of the temple and through the village, only Chaya stopped long enough to tell one of the temple inhabitants to remain with Ayola to care for him while they were gone. They reached the Stargate and even Oma was stunned to see Jack dial in the gate address without having to ask what the last symbol was. After the event horizon burst forth, the group stared open-mouthed as Jack took a few steps forward and stepped into the wormhole without even a second thought. Colonel Reynolds was the first to shout, realizing that the iris would more than likely be in place on the other side.

> > > >

He stalked through the room looking from one soldier to the next, his disdain clear on his face. With a growl he motioned for the soldier nearest to him to leave and several others followed suit. The Wraith he'd sent through the gate had not returned from Earth and he was angered by the thought that the humans had once again found a way to thwart his efforts at destroying them.

Sighing heavily he turned to the remaining soldiers still guarding the worn and weary Teyla and Lieutenant Ford. Not wanting to show his frustration he smiled and took a few steps towards the two prisoners.

"I must thank you for giving me what I desired. It will only be a matter of time before the Wraith will feast on your pitiful planet."

Ford spat at Anubis and was rewarded with a blow to the head. Teyla was quick to move to her comrade's aide, but felt herself yanked up by her hair. She was face-to-face with Anubis as he peered down at her, with a look of pure hatred in his host's eyes.

"You may have beaten us today, but you will not win."

"You are a brave woman…foolish, but brave." He let her drop to the floor, kicking her square in the ribs, laughing haughtily as she doubled over in pain.

Shaking his head he turned to the remaining soldiers and ordered them to take the prisoners to where the others were being held. A maniacal smile ghosted across his lips as he watched them being dragged from his presence. He took a seat at one of the nearby consoles to wait for word from the team he'd sent to Earth.

> > > >

Colonel Carter heard the klaxons sound and was on her feet in a second. She hoofed it to the control room to find out who was knocking on the door. She was none too surprised to find Teal'c, Daniel and her father had gotten there about the same time she did.

"Who is it, Sergeant?" She asked the tech sergeant sitting checking the computer beside her.

"No IDC ma'am."

"Keep the iris closed." The sergeant nodded crisply as he quickly checked the iris controls one more time. Before he could say anything in response, the iris dematerialized before their very eyes. Carter turned towards Daniel and the others who looked equally puzzled, then snapped at the tech. "I said to keep the iris closed, airman!"

"Sorry ma'am, but I didn't open it."

Everyone in the control room watched as a familiar figure stepped through the wormhole and darted quickly down the ramp. The SFs had their weapons trained on the General, until Sam shouted from the control room for them to stand down. Teal'c and Daniel were the first to leave for the gateroom with Sam and Jacob right behind them.

"Jack! You're alright!" Daniel shouted as stepped into the gateroom. "How did the iris disappear?"

The General smiled softly and pulled the younger man in for a hug, and just as he did he noticed that several others were making their way through the wormhole.

"It's just a neat trick I learned."

"I see you brought company, sir." Sam pointed to the ramp where Oma, Chaya, and the others were now standing.

"I always say the more the merrier." Jack motioned for the others to come forward and herded everyone towards the conference room.

"What's going on here, Jack?" Jacob asked the question on everyone's mind once they were all seated around the conference room table.

"Long story, but suffice to say we need to get ready to go through to Atlantis." The entire room stared blankly at General O'Neill as he brought his hand up to his temple and began rubbing the small area in a circular motion. "I can't explain this right now. If we don't go in the next few hours, everyone on Atlantis is going to die."

"What are you talking about?" Daniel didn't even try to hide his exasperation or his confusion over what his friend was saying.

"Anubis has taken over the Wraith armada. He's planning to send more troops through to Earth. If we don't stop him now, there won't be anyway for us to do it later."

Oma and the other Ascendeds shook their heads in disbelief as they all began to shout out for more of an explanation. Jack raised his arms in the air to silence the room, surprised at how quickly they quieted. It was at that moment that Jacob noticed the crystals in Jack's right hand and quickly asked about them.

"These are…well, it's complicated. Let's just say they're something I need at the moment."

"Jack, you're being awfully vague right now." Jack rolled his eyes at Daniel as the young man shrugged his shoulders hoping for more of an answer.

"This is the best I can do right now, Daniel." The General looked around the room, and saw that everyone seemed to have the same lost expression on their face. "Listen, folks. I know this doesn't make sense. Believe me, it makes even less sense in my mind, but I don't wanna see anyone else hurt. I know none of you want that either. The only way we're going to prevent that from happening is by striking now."

The room went silent as they considered The General's words. None of them knew quite what to say in response, and it was Chaya that broke the deafening silence with a simple question.

"What do wish us to do?"

Several pairs of eyes were trained on the Ascended woman, gently tapping her fingers on tabletop. Daniel, Sam, Teal'c and Jacob still did not know who she was, though they were more than curious to find out. Jack merely smiled in her direction as he spoke.

"For starters, I need you and Desa to get the little party favors you've been hiding." Both Ascendeds glared back at Jack in shock and surprise. "You forget I know you both amazingly well. Unfortunately, I don't know where you hid it, but if I'm right you can get to it pretty easily from here."

"You never cease to astound me, Janus." Chaya's soft voice made Jack laugh and he nodded his head.

"That's good to know."

"I'm sorry, but could we maybe get an introduction here?" Daniel surprised everyone when he turned towards Chaya and crossed his arms over his chest.

Jack and Chaya laughed softly as they shared a knowing glance at one another before Jack began to answer the archeologist's question. "I think you two may have met earlier. Chaya tells me she showed up at that masquerade that was supposed to be a trial. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

With a proud smile Chaya stood. "My name is Chaya. I am an Outcast like Janus and the other Ascendeds here."

"That's another thing I'm confused about." Daniel cut her off as he raised his arm in the air. "How is it that you're all corporeal? I kinda got it when we were wherever we were for the trial, but not here in this plane of existence, so how is it possible?"

Oma shook her head at the mystified linguist. "It has always been possible for an Ascended to take corporeal form, it merely takes training. You were able to do so; I fear you have simply misplaced the memory."

Daniel, Sam and Jacob glared at Oma, then shifted their gazes to Skaara, Chaya and Tenal who were sitting quietly listening to the conversation going on.

The next hour went by in a blur as Jack barked out orders that set the whole mountain to bustling around. Chaya and Oma had left through the Stargate. Tenal, Skaara and Teal'c were hard at work helping Colonel Reynolds prep teams for the impending battle with Anubis. Sam and Jacob were readying the time travel ship that SG-1 had found a few months earlier. By the end of the hour SG teams were prepped to go through the gate, and to Jack's delight, Chaya and Oma had indeed returned with their 'party favors' in hand.

"Have I mentioned you're both great gals?" Jack grinned wildly as he cupped one of the treasures in his hands, while the two women rolled their eyes at him.

Everyone was shocked to say the least when the two Ascended women returned with a fully charged ZPM and a cache of Ancient weapons in tow.

Within minutes the ZPM was in place and they were dialing the coordinates to Atlantis. Jack guided the puddle jumper through first; using his newfound ability to disengage the iris-like device that he knew might be activated on the other side.

> > > >

As the chevrons began to light up Anubis smiled, thinking his soldiers were finally returning. Much to his chagrin he was met by the sight of an Ancient shuttlecraft being piloted by one of the Tau'ri he had come to hate with great passion. Anubis growled in disgust as Jack O'Neill waved at him with a devious grin on his face. He wasted little time retreating for the exit as a patrol of Wraith soldiers began to fire their weapons at the shuttle.

The SG teams that poured through the gate after the shuttle easily dispatched the few Wraiths that were firing on them with the use of their new Ancient weaponry. Jack set the shuttle down in the center of the control room and opened the door so his team could exit. He then led the SG teams out into the city, leaving Tenal and Oma behind to watch the control room.

> > > >

"They're pretty banged up, but they should be alright, Major Sheppard." Carson moved his hand back from Teyla's abdomen, and turned toward the Major.

"If they've already sent a team through the gate, then Earth may already be lost." Weir's tone was ominous, without a speck of hope in sight.

Sheppard shook his head. "General O'Neill would destroy the base before he let Earth be compromised. Elizabeth, we have to think positive. Maybe there's still a chance for us to help them."

"How do you propose we do that?" Dr. Weir rolled her eyes, not sharing her counterpart's hopeful attitude.

To their surprise it was Colonel Howard that spoke out in response. "Maybe we can slow the Wraith down. There are quite a few of us, we might be able to pull something off to buy Earth some time."

They heard a soft groan coming from their left and turned to see Lt. Ford coming to. "They already kicked our asses big-time, sir. How are we supposed to slow them down?"

With a wink and a smirk Sheppard bent down to pat the young soldier's shoulder. "We'll just have to think of something, won't we?"

Ford stifled a laugh at his COs cheerful expression and started to sit up, only to be stopped by Dr. Beckett's firm grip on his left arm.

"Not yet, Aiden. From what Teyla tells me, you took a rather nasty knock on the head. You need to rest up a bit before you do anything else."

Leaving Beckett to tend to his patient, Teyla, Sheppard, and Weir moved off to another corner of their quasi-prison to try and come up with a plan.

"Is there anyway for us to get to the gate?" Sheppard looked to Teyla, but the Athosian woman only shook her head.

"I do not believe so. The Wraith leader has it covered well. She has a squadron of soldiers guarding it."

"That's another thing, am I the only one that thinks that that Wraith is kinda strange? I mean she doesn't act like any of the Wraith we've encountered before." Both Weir and Teyla nodded in agreement.

"She did not seem like any Wraith my people or I have encountered."

Weir shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "How does this help? So we know that this Wraith is different somehow, but we don't know why. We know they operate with a hive mentality, maybe she is their queen and that's why she's different?"

Howard shook his head wondering what else was so familiar about the Wraith that appeared to be in control of the Hive ships. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he was certain it was more than her possibly being a Wraith queen.

Sheppard also felt something didn't seem right, and like Colonel Howard he couldn't put his finger on it either. Turning his head slightly he saw Dr. McKay walking towards them, and broke himself from his thoughts.

"What did you find out?"

McKay sighed and shook his head. "Good news is that Zalenka was able to purge some of the city's memory before the Wraith took over the gateroom. Bad news is that he has no idea how much he managed to erase, or if the Wraith have a way of recovering any of the lost data."

"That doesn't help us." Howard chimed in causing McKay to roll his eyes.

"I never said it would."

Sheppard glared at Rodney in frustration, but the scientist merely sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"First, thing we have to figure out is how we get out of here. The only visible exits are through those doors over there, and the transporter. The transporter has been locked, and the exit doors are guarded." Sheppard pointed to the sliding doors of the cafeteria and then to the transporter doors a few yards away. "Can anyone think of any other way out?"

They all stood there in silence trying to think of a way out of their confines, but nothing was coming to mind. With a heavy sigh Sheppard turned towards the transporter doors, running his hand through his hair. He knew they had to find away to stop the Wraith, but finding that way was easier said than done.

> > > >

The teams fanned out to scour the city to find Dr. Weir and her team. Colonel Reynolds led SG-3, while Jacob, Tenal and Skaara had joined SG-12, 15 and 16. Jack could feel a familiar presence close by and he sent the other teams as far away from it as he could. It felt strange to once more be leading SG-1, but it also felt right to have them by his side again. As they continued through the city Jack began to formulate a plan with the help of Valyn, and together they led the team to Anubis, so their plan could be put into action.

They slowly made their way down an empty corridor. Jack motioned for everyone to halt as he tried to sense where the presence was coming from. He moved them left and stopped at the end of the corridor where they were met with a heavy looking door.

"He's inside. I can feel him." Jack turned around, motioning for everyone to come closer. "I want everyone to stay on my heels. He's not alone in there, and those Wraith are gonna be hard to kill. Even with our new toys, they're gonna be a bitch to stop."

They all looked down at the Ancient weapons they were carrying, then back up at Jack.

"If he has taken a Wraith as a host, how will you know which one he is?" Daniel asked.

"I already have a pretty good idea which one dear old Anubis is. I'm guessing he's inside that one we saw charging out of the gateroom when we came through."

"What makes you so sure, sir?" Jack turned to Sam and sighed.

"It's just a hunch, Carter, but trust me on this one."

Shrugging her shoulders Sam nodded as Jack began to dole out orders to the team. Moments later SG-1 was in position. Jack brought his hand up, and as he did so the crystals lit up. The heavy door was thrown open and the team rushed inside, Jack in the lead. As they entered a swarm of Wraith soldiers charged them.

"Shit!" Was the only thing Jack could think to say as the soldiers descended on them, surrounding the four of them in seconds.

Jack silently motioned for everyone to put their weapons down. They did so with some hesitation as the Wraith began to step aside so their leader could view their newly captured prisoners.

"Did you really think you could stop me?" The strange voice got the team's attention, they looked up to see a female Wraith coming towards them.

Jack smirked as he shook his head. "Actually, it was a thought."

"Your species is pitiful. You should be grateful that I am sending the Wraith to destroy your world. I am ridding it of a useless affliction."

"You have no right!" Daniel shouted and made to lunge at the Wraith, but was stopped short when Teal'c and Jack grabbed him by the arms to hold him back.

"Your friends are wise to stop you, though they have only delayed your inevitable death, Daniel Jackson."

"Listen Anubis. If you're done preaching to us, we've really got more important things to be doing right about now."

The female Wraith cocked her head in Jack's direction and smiled. "Jack O'Neill…the second biggest mistake the Others allowed to happen. You should have been put out of your misery centuries ago."

Jack watched as they Wraith raised a hand and touched his chest with the slick palm. To his surprise he didn't feel his energy being drained out of him, and by the look on the Wraith's face, Anubis was just as perplexed at why nothing was happening.

"Gee, I think you must have forgotten to read the instruction manual when you stole that body."

Anubis growled and brought his other hand down across Jack's face, landing the other man on the floor with a painful thud.

> > > >

"You look like you have a plan, Sheppard." Colonel Howard commented as he watched the officer's brow wrinkle as he turned towards the doors a few yards away.

"What exactly is your plan, Major?" Dr. Weir asked as Sheppard brought his hand up to his chin as he stood in front of Colonel Howard and Dr. McKay.

"I haven't exactly come up with one…yet."

Sighing heavily she took a seat on the floor beside the three men. "Something tells me we don't have much time here."

"I know that, Elizabeth." Sheppard lowered his head a moment then brought it back up, the expression on his face lacking in the confidence it usually held. "If the Wraith have already sent a team through to Earth, they're more than likely planning a full-scale attack, and my guess is they'll do that sooner rather than later."

"The Major is right. We have to come up with a way to get out of here before they can get any kind of attack underway."

"That's it!" McKay's voice took everyone by surprise, as Weir, Howard and Sheppard turned to glare at the scientist in confusion.

"What are you yelling about, Rodney?"

"I have an idea. If it works, we may be able to get out of here and warn Earth."

Sheppard shrugged his shoulder and waited for Rodney to say more, but the scientist seemed to be staring out into space.

"Are you going to share with the rest of the class?"

McKay shook himself from his thoughts. "Sorry, Major."

A few minutes later the three of them were getting ready to set Rodney's plan in motion. Sheppard, Howard, and Teyla were in place watching the entrance of the cafeteria that had become their holding cell, for any sign that the Wraith were on their way. Rodney and Zalenka had pried open a panel beside the transporter and were moving quickly to reconfigure the transporter. The sound of approaching footfalls caused Sheppard and Howard to motion for Rodney to speed things up.

"If you or the Colonel would like to give this a try, go ahead. Otherwise, shut up and let us work."

Rodney's less than pleased response made the two officers roll their eyes, Howard turned to glare at the Major.

"Is he always like this?"

Sheppard smirked as he shook his head. "Usually, he's worse. Fortunately, he's brilliant enough that I let it slide most times."

"And the rest of the time?"

"I grip my P-90 very tightly and pray for the strength not to pull the trigger."

Howard started to laugh softly, but stopped a moment later when the door opened, just as McKay and Zalenka slammed the panel back in place.

> > > >

Jack could feel the blood pouring out of the cut above his right eye, the warm liquid dripping down his face. He brought his hand up to wipe it away and clear his vision, only to find the crystals in his hand glowing again.

Jack could hear the voice in his head begin to speak and he closed his eyes once more. /We will heal you, Janus./

/Thanks Valyn, but won't Anubis notice if this cut just disappears/

/Perhaps, but if we do not intervene you will be unable to continue in the battle to come. That is unacceptable./

/If you say so. Is everyone else okay/

/Your team is well. They are watching you now with great concern./

Sighing Jack let Valyn work and opened his eyes once more to see his team checking him over.

"Take it easy, Jack. That was a helluva blow you took." Daniel's voice was calming to Jack and he focused on it as he sat up.

"Where are we?"

"Anubis had us put in what looks like a storage room of some sort."

Jack blinked a few times as his vision became clear. "Remind me to duck next time I try to piss off an evil half-Goa'uld, half-Ascended being."

Carter and Daniel smiled seeing their CO was sounding like his usual self.

"We'll keep that in mind, sir." Carter smiled and reached out a canteen of water towards her CO.

"How's the head?" Jack looked up at Daniel and sighed.

"I've had worse. It smarts, but I'll live."

Daniel rolled his eyes and took the canteen from Jack as he handed it to him, promptly giving it back to Sam as he leaned down to help the General to his feet. It took a moment for Jack to get his bearings straight once he was standing, but once he had he wasted no time in scouting out his surroundings.

"How long have I been out?"

Carter was quick to answer as she looked up from her watch. "About a half hour."

"O'Neill, I do not believe your plan worked." Teal'c surprised everyone with his comment, Jack walked towards him with a cocky smile on his face.

"We've been in worse situations. We'll get outta this just fine."

The Jaffa arched his eyebrow in manner that Jack could only interpret as 'Somehow I doubt that.'

"So do you have a plan, sir?"

Jack looked down at his palm and reached up once more to his head, feeling the cut already closing. With a smirk on his face, the General nodded.

"Patience Grasshopper."

The rest of SG-1 stared blankly at their CO as he sauntered towards the opposite end of the room, humming a tune they were certain was the theme song to MASH as he did so.

> > > >

"What the hell!" Howard cried as he saw several SGC soldiers enter the room.

Colonel Reynolds smirked at the other officer and shook his head. "It's good to see you too, Howard. We're gonna get your people out of here. Just out of curiosity, where the hell is the Daedalus?"

Colonel Howard sighed. "I ordered them to go after Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay, but they weren't able to get to them in time. From what I understand they engaged one of the Hive ships in battle and drew them away from the city."

"Well, the General will be glad to hear that." Reynolds shook his head and both Colonels turned to leave but were stopped by a voice behind them.

"Who are you?" Sheppard asked, surprising the two Colonels who turned to glare at him.

"Colonel Reynolds, SGC." Reynolds motioned for his team to clear the hallway. "We don't really have time for this, Major. We need to get a move on."

"How exactly did you get here?" Weir asked as she stepped up to Colonel Reynolds.

"We came through the gate. At the moment the gate is in our control, but if we don't hurry that may not hold for long."

Quickly the Atlantis team was herded out of the room and down the corridor. They managed to get to the gateroom without running into anymore Wraith; Sheppard was surprised to see Chaya standing by a puddle jumper when they arrived.

"What are you doing here?"

"Major Sheppard. It is good to see you well." She smiled and embraced the Major warmly.

"Nice to see you too." Sheppard smiled back at her as he pulled away, but his attention was quickly drawn back to Colonel Reynolds and the current situation.

"Ma'am, we need to send these people through the gate." Reynolds turned to Weir and she nodded in agreement.

Oma was already on her way to the control panel, readying to tap in the address when Rodney spoke up.

"How are we going to do that? We don't have a ZPM?"

Reynolds smirked. "You do now."

The scientist's eyes nearly leaped from his face at the Colonel's words. "How is that possible?"

"Long story, Dr. McKay. Let's just be grateful that we have one. Start getting these people back home."

"What about the Wraith? They already sent some of their own through to Earth." Elizabeth asked as Oma dialed Earth.

"We know ma'am. They've been…dealt with." Weir raised an eyebrow at the Colonel's vague statement as she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the wormhole to connect.

> > > >

Most of SG-1 was pacing the floor as they tried to come up with a way to escape their current predicament. Teal'c was the only one remaining in place, standing guard in the corner of the room, with his eyes fixed on the door.

"Sir, we don't have our radios. We have no way of letting anyone know where we are."

Jack turned to Sam and looked as though a light bulb had gone off in his head. "I wonder."

The others watched as Jack sat down in the center of the room, closing his eyes as he crossed his legs in front of him.

/Valyn, can we do this/

There was a long silence within him before the crystals replied. /Yes, it is possible./

/Good. Let's do this./

Bringing his hands to his knees he let out a deep breath, then slowly began to reach out with his mind, oblivious to the fact that his teammates were watching him as though he'd lost his mind completely. He reached out, seeking a familiar presence. It took a few minutes, but he soon felt Chaya's soft voice speak into him.

/What are you doing, Janus? Where are you/

/That doesn't really matter. Has Weir's team been found/

/Yes, we are attempting to send them through the gate, but Dr. Weir, Major Sheppard, Dr. McKay, and the one called Teyla are remaining behind with us./

Jack stifled a laugh, not at all surprised at Weir or Sheppard's hesitance to leave. /How long before they're all through the gate/

/Not much longer. Are you on your way back/

/We will be soon. I have to find out what Anubis is up to first./ He could feel the Ascended woman's concern, and mentally reached out to comfort her. /I promise you I will be safe, Chaya./

He said good-bye to her and quickly sought out Anubis. His mind scanned the city, but found no trace of him. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain go through his body and he fought hard to keep control of his mind.

/Looking for me/ Anubis's voice cackled in Jack's mind and he bit back a curse as another wave of pain hit him.

/That…the best…you…got/

/Far from it. Who do you think you are? You cannot stop me, human/

The pain ceased and Jack reined in his mental energy to shield against any more attacks. /You're wrong on both counts, buddy. I ain't exactly human, and I'm damn well gonna stop you/

/I will crush you/

/Bite me/

Jack could feel Anubis's anger rising, but before the creature could react Jack unleashed as much of his energy as he could muster to force Anubis out of his mind. He could feel Anubis scream in pain and he kept his focus on his mental attack. It took every ounce of concentration he had, but Jack forced Anubis away and slowly opened his eyes, his breathing rapid.

"Are you okay, Jack?" Daniel was right by his side, checking the General's pulse as he slid backwards into the archeologist's arms.

"Whoa! That was kinda strange."

"What exactly did you do, sir?"

"Well, Carter…let's just say I bought us some time." Taking a few deep breaths Jack sat upright and slowly made his way to his feet, with Daniel and Sam's help.

"I believe our guards have left." Teal'c's voice made them turn in his direction and Jack started to walk towards the doors.

He could feel his strength slowly returning to him and raised his hand using the crystal's power to open the doors. Jack stepped through first, dropping the few Wraith that were running in their direction with a wave of his hand, allowing his teammates to pick up the Wraith weapons, and then quickly urged them on. He led the team through the city and back towards the Stargate. They had nearly reached it when a troop of Wraith charged them.

The team fought but there were too many. Jack was already drained from using so much of his energy to attack Anubis's mind. He felt the jolt of the Wraith stunner as he was hit with a blast from the weapon, slowly felt himself begin to fall. As his eyes started to close he saw a familiar face moving towards him and he slowly let himself slip into unconsciousness once more.

> > > >

Anubis slammed his fist against the wall beside him as he cursed the unknown Ancient that was ruining his plans to attack Earth. He rapidly made his way towards the bridge of the Wraith Hive ship, trying to sort out how the Ancient was able to attack him so effectively. A demonic smile ghosted across his lips as a thought poured into his mind.

"You may have done me a favor after all, Ancient one." He laughed to himself as he began to formulate a new plan.

Within minutes the Wraith troops were ordered into combat, several troops beaming into the city to seek out the Tau'ri soldiers.

> > > >

Jack opened his eyes and saw that Jacob was leaning down to check on him.

"You alright, Jack?"

Nodding his head, Jack started to sit up. "Yeah, how is everyone else?"

"SG-15 lost two men, but we managed to get away from the Wraith…for now." Jacob's tone didn't give Jack much confidence in their current position.

"Are we near the gate?"

Jacob shook his head. "The gates is two floors up on the other side of the city."

"Damn! I was hoping we were closer."

"You and me both. There are a couple hundred Wraith between here and the gate right now. We'll be lucky if we can get halfway there before we're caught."

Sighing, Jack got to his feet and surveyed his surroundings. "Are the other SG teams at the gate?"

"Not really sure. We haven't been able to contact anyone since before we came to rescue you."

"Jake, I have an idea, but you're gonna have a take a leap of faith for it to work."

The Tok'ra didn't like the sound of that, he groaned inwardly as he nodded.

> > > >

Chaya watched as the last member of the Atlantis expedition team went through the gate back to Earth. The gate quickly shut down and those who had remained behind readied themselves for the impending battle.

"Where'd these weapons come from?" Sheppard and Howard asked as they reached out to take what something that looked similar to a Wraith stunner, from Colonel Reynolds's hands.

"Let's just say they were a gift."

Sheppard nodded his head. "Cool."

"Just depress the trigger here." Reynolds pointed to a notch near the handle of the weapon. "Hold on tight, cause she packs a helluva punch."

"Right." Reynolds proceeded to show both the Major and Colonel Howard around the rest of the Ancient weaponry they had brought along.

"Where's General O'Neill?" Weir was standing beside McKay at one of the control terminals above where the rest of the group was preparing.

"I was able to get the life signs detection system working again. It looks like they're on the other side of the city. The Wraith pretty much have the area between here and there covered." McKay pointed to a red area on the screen. "Looks like there's a pretty big group of Wraith heading this way right now."

"Colonels, Major! We don't have much time before the Wraith are on us, what's our plan?"

Sheppard, Howard, and Reynolds looked up at Weir and quickly jogged to her position. She pointed out what McKay had just showed her and the three of them moved back down the stairs.

"They'll hit us hard and fast, sir. Defending this gate isn't going to be easy."

Reynolds and Howard nodded to Sheppard. "I figured that, Major. There's also no way of knowing how long we'll be able to hold it, or if we'll be able to last long enough for the General to get here."

Howard motioned to McKay. "Do we have a way to contact the Daedalus?"

"We might be able to boost the radio signal a bit further. Depending on where they are we may be able to reach them, but I can't guarantee anything."

With a nod Howard and McKay went to work trying to contact the ship, while Sheppard and Reynolds continued to formulate their plan of attack.

"Chaya and I will help bring Jack and the others here; he will need our assistance." Oma and Chaya shared a quick glance and Reynolds shook his head.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Trust us, colonel. Tenal and Skaara will remain here. You will need them."

The colonel sighed, not quite sure what to do, but he knew that the general would do as the two women wished so he agreed. They all watched in silence as they two Ascended women left the control room.

"You have made the right choice, colonel." It was Tenal that spoke, though his words did little the comfort the colonel as he went back to readying the few people that were on hand.

> > > >

"When you said a leap of faith, Jack, I was sorta hoping you didn't actually mean it literally." Jacob took a deep breath as he stared down at the cargo bay below them.

Jack smiled and patted the former general on the back. "Don't worry. I didn't mean it that way. I just need you to trust me, and do exactly as I say, no matter how insane it may seem."

With a relieved sigh Jacob followed Jack down the scaffolding towards the bottom of the cargo bay where two puddle jumpers were sitting completely unguarded.

"What exactly is our plan, Jack?"

Jack laughed as he continued to work his way down towards the puddle jumpers. "You'll know in a few minutes."

"Just so you know, Selmak is not at all pleased with this secrecy of yours."

"Well, now you know what we feel like when the Tok'ra keep secrets from us. It's a pain in the ass ain't it?"

Jacob rolled his eyes as he nodded in agreement. "Of course you know this doesn't mean we're going to be telling you anything more than we already have, right?"

With a smirk Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Somehow, I don't think that's going to matter much after we get done here."

The Tok'ra shot Jack a confused look, which the General shrugged off as he continued to move closer to the ships below. Within minutes they had reached the ships and so far they were sure they had not been seen.

"So what exactly is the plan, Jack?"

"I need to use the radio on the shuttle. You get to be my lookout, for now." Jacob sighed heavily as Jack slipped inside the nearest ship and out of his line of sight.

The old solider was quick to get himself in a position so he could see if anyone was close by and waited for Jack to return. He could hear some chatter from inside the shuttlecraft, then a few minutes later Jack emerged from shuttle, the blue crystals in his hand glowing brightly. Just before he reached the spot where Jacob was waiting, two Wraith came into view and began to fire at them. Jacob stood and fired his zat at them to give Jack enough cover fire to reach his position but a blast from the Wraith stunner hit him square in the chest before Jack could reach him, and he crumpled to the floor, landing in a heap.

> > > >

"They're moving fast. We have to get to the General soon, or it'll be too late." Sheppard and the other SGC soldiers readied to leave with Chaya and Oma. They all strapped their weapons in place and moved quickly for the door.

"Reynolds, go with them. I'll wait here for my crew to get in range. We'll hold the gate until you get back." Colonel Howard motioned towards the others and Reynolds hesitantly raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?"

"Go. They're going to need as much manpower as they can get. There's no need for both of us to wait. Once the Daedalus is in position I'll send my men out after you."

Reynolds let out a deep breath and slowly nodded. "Alright. Good luck."

"You too."

The Colonels saluted one another before Reynolds hurried after Sheppard and the others. Weir, McKay, Tenal, Skaara and Colonel Howard were the only ones remaining behind in the gateroom,

> > > >

He watched from the control room of the Hive ship as a single dart ship was launched and leapt into hyperspace. The Tau'ri vessel approaching them had seen nothing, and this pleased him greatly. No one would foil his plans, least of all some pitiful humans.

/Why have you sent that one away from the city/ Her shrill voice echoed in his mind, Anubis sighed heavily in frustration.

He'd only had minimal success in silencing his host, at that in and of itself was a strange sensation for the former Goa'uld.

/It is all part of my plan./

/You are a strange creature./ The Wraith host mused as Anubis moved towards the window of the Hive ship.

/And you are poor excuse for a living being./

/It would seem to me that our races are quite similar. We both require humans so that we may live. Though we may use them for a different purpose, our goals are the same./

/I tire of your incessant opinions./

The Wraith laughed loudly, Anubis had to put his hands up to his temples to try and drown the sound out. /Perhaps you are not as superior as believe you are, Anubis./

/QUIET/ Anubis used all his strength to silence his host, but her words still echoed in his mind as he continued to formulate his next move against the humans.

He ordered his troops to advance on the humans. He knew that O'Neill and the others had escaped, but his plans were still intact. He was certain that the Wraith would easily crush the small rabble of humans, then Earth would be his for the taking.

> > > >

The Wraith were fast approaching them, and Jack had to think fast. He quickly grabbed his fallen comrade and carried him towards the shuttle bay doors, the Wraith still firing on them from the opposite side of the shuttle bay as he ran. As he got closer to the door he noticed someone waving him towards the door and firing at the Wraith behind them. They tumbled through the door just in time as a blast from the stunner caught him in the leg, and the door closed behind them. Jack felt the coldness of the floor on his face as he looked up to see a welcome sight.

"Are you alright?" Chaya asked as he bent down to touch Jack's arm.

He nodded then turned to Jacob. "He took a shot to the chest from a Wraith stunner."

"He should be alright. Those things don't do more than knock you out and numb you for a while." Jack looked over at Major Sheppard and smiled.

"Glad to see you're still alive, Major."

"Thank you, sir. I could say the same about you."

Shaking his head at the ever-cocky Major, Jack slowly sat up and ran his hand over the spot on his leg where the stunner blast had hit him. The blue crystal glowed deeply and Jack felt the feeling in his leg begin to come back.

"We need to get moving. The Wraith are close."

"We know." Oma quickly bent down and pulled Jack to his feet as the rest of the group moved quickly away from the shuttle bay.

They ran for a few minutes until Jack suddenly stopped and cocked his head in the direction they'd just come from.

"What is it, sir?" Sheppard asked as he reached a hand out to touch the General's shoulder.

"Desa, Chaya, I need you two to stay here. Sheppard get the rest of the team as far away from here as you can."

The major started to question his superior officer, but seeing the general's expression he quickly did as he was ordered, watching as Chaya and Oma went to stand beside Jack.

> > > >

Back in the gateroom they could hear the sounds of the battle raging on outside in the city. Colonel Howard was nervously pacing back and forth. He stopped when he heard a familiar click on his radio.

"Colonel, do you read me. This is the Daedalus, over."

The colonel smiled as he tapped on the radio so he could answer. "I read you loud and clear, Major. Where the hell are you?"

"Just about to enter the planet's atmosphere."

"What about that Hive ship that was after you?"

"Destroyed, sir."

"Good work, Major. Now get your asses down here. We need reinforcements, and fast."

There was a moment of silence before the Major responded. "No can do, Colonel. General O'Neill gave us orders. As soon as we carry those out, we'll be down to help out."

"Excuse me!" Howard shouted into the radio, the others in the room wincing at the harshness in his voice.

"We'll be down to help as soon as we can. Daedalus out."

As the Colonel put his radio down Tenal and Skaara moved closer to the doors, and they both raised their arms once they were squarely in front of the entrance.

> > > >

Teyla was leading a team through the city and they stopped when she sense the Wraith nearby. She was readying the team to attack the small band of Wraith when she felt herself being beamed away. She found herself transported to a room on a Hive ship above the city. Two guards took hold of her, though she struggled in earnest. They dragged her to the control room where their leader was waiting.

"Teyla Emmagan. It is good to see you again." Anubis smiled as he spoke to her.

"What do you want?"

The smile seemed to spread across his entire face as he took a few steps closer to her. "That is quite simple. I want you."

The look on Teyla's face was one of confusion and horror as Anubis reached out to touch her face with his left hand. She could feel the creature inching its way into her mind, telling her what he wanted her to do. With all her strength she fought against his control but he was far too strong.

> > > >

"We lost Teyla, sir!" The frantic sounding Major shouted into the radio as Colonel Reynolds bit back a curse on the other end of the line.

"What do you mean lost her? Was she hit?"

"No sir. She was beamed away a moment ago." There was a pause before the Major continued. "We're outnumbered, sir. We have to retreat."

"Damn it!" Reynolds shook his head. "Get your people outta there, Major. We'll rendezvous at the gate. Reynolds out!"

With that the colonel cocked his weapon and took aim at a Wraith that was moving on his position. He kept firing until the creature fell to the ground, then he looked around to see his men all firing at the incoming Wraith.

The enemy was coming down on them in great numbers. There were more than anyone knew what to do with. The more they fired and knocked Wraith down, the more seemed to come after them. Reynolds could see his team was tiring and he shouted for a retreat, ordering everyone to head back to the gateroom.

> > > >

"All I need for you two to do is to focus your energy on me."

The two Ascended women stared curiously at Jack as he dropped his weapon to the ground and brought his hands up in front of him. They could see the crystals now glowing almost purple in his hand as he turned his palms upward, his fingertips facing forward. He turned to look at each of them before turning his eyes towards the corridor ahead of them. The footfalls of the approaching Wraith were getting louder and neither Oma nor Chaya knew what Jack was planning.

They stood silently beside the General as the light from the crystals grew brighter and slowly began to surround the three of them. Closing their eyes they did as they were instructed, focusing their energy on Jack. They began to sense his thoughts and his plan became obvious to them both. Through this link with his mind they could also sense Tenal and Skaara as well. The other two Ascendeds were focusing their energy on Jack, just as they were.

As the Wraith descended upon them they began to fire their weapons at the trio, but the stunner blasts bounced off the force field the crystals had put around them. Jack used the energy of the four Ascendeds as well as the power of the crystals to focus an energy beam at the troop of Wraith soldiers still firing on them. He could feel each Wraith cry out in pain as they were cut in half by the energy beam. A shudder passed through Jack as fought to maintain the energy beam long enough. As quickly as he could he focused the beam and made it move all through the city, destroying any Wraith that it came in contact with.

> > > >

Weir, McKay and Colonel Howard watched in awe and confusion as the door to the gateroom burst open, four Wraith entered, only to be sliced in half by an energy beam that swept through the room. All they could see was Tenal and Skaara with their arms raised above their heads; a faint blue light surrounding them as the beam went around the room, then quickly moved upwards to the shuttle bay above.

"What just happened?" Weir asked as she watched the beam disappear above them.

McKay was gasping for breath as he turned to Weir and Colonel Howard. None of them had an answer, but they were certain the two Ascendeds standing by the door might know.

> > > >

Colonel Reynolds and his men hit the deck when they saw a huge energy beam pulsing towards them. It passed over them quickly and when it was over they stood to see the littered bodies of dead Wraith soldiers surrounding them. Stunned and confused Colonel hurriedly led his team the rest of the way to the gateroom, hoping they would have some answers as to what had just happened.

> > > >

Anubis pressed the button and watched as Teyla was beamed back into the city. With a smile on his face he moved through the control room of the Hive ship, ordering the others to begin their retreat. He could feel their fear through the mental link the Wraith all had with one another, it sickened him to think that a race so powerful could feel fear from a small group of Tau'ri slime. Even if they had an Ancient and few Ascendeds breaking the rules to help them, he was sure they would be no match for him.

Hurriedly he started towards the escape pods onboard the ship, but never made it there. He could see from the portside window that an energy beam was moving quickly towards the ship, and he had no time to outrun it. Anubis cursed as he felt the energy beam rip through his host's body. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it was more than enough to force him to leave it and only served to anger him beyond words. As his consciousness floated above the ship he silently vowed that he would get his revenge on the one called O'Neill. The Ancient had made his move, now it was his turn.

> > > >

As she opened her eyes she felt strange, as though her every step and movement was being controlled by someone or something else. She tried to shrug the feeling off, until she heard a voice begin to whisper in her mind.

/You cannot fight me, Teyla Emmagan. Your body is now mine./

/Who are you? Why are you doing this/

The voice seemed to laugh at her question, the high-pitched cackle echoing in her mind. /It does not matter who I am. Just know that you will be the one to lead us to the Earth, and you will be the one to help us destroy your race./

At the stranger's words Teyla did all she could to fight for control of her mind, but all she succeeded in doing was making the voice inside her laugh harder, the more she fought. She felt herself begin to lose and went silent as the creature controlling her moved her body to a transporter and beamed her back down to the city.

> > > >

Jack opened his eyes and brought his hands back to his sides. Slowly he turned to his companions, they both reached for him as he struggled to remain standing. Once he had regained his equilibrium the three of them quickly decided to return to the gateroom. They caught up with Sheppard and the others just as they reached the door.

"I take it that beam had something to do with the three of you?" The Major asked as he motioned for the General and the two Ascendeds to enter ahead of him.

"You might be right, Major. You just might be right." Jack smirked as he let himself be led into the room by Oma and Chaya.

Once inside he collapsed onto the nearby steps and let out a heavy sigh as he surveyed the weary group of warriors now in the room. They all looked to him, he knew he needed to explain, but he also knew that he needed to find out what Anubis's next move was going to be. The creature had been defeated in this round, but Jack wasn't foolish enough to think that this small loss would be enough to stop him.

"Where's Teyla?" Sheppard noticed the Athosian woman was nowhere in sight, he turned towards the Major that had been part of her team for an answer, but before the young man could respond a familiar voice called out from doorway.

"I am here, Major Sheppard."

All eyes turned towards her as she walked through the doorway. She appeared as weary as everyone else and a bit battered, with a few bloodstains on her shirt and jacket.

"What happened to you?"

She lowered her head and turned away for a moment before turning back Sheppard to respond. "I was beamed on board the Hive ship. There was some sort of commotion while I was onboard and I was able to get away using the beaming technology to return to the city."

"That must have been when that beam passed through the city." Colonel Reynolds commented as he took a step closer to Teyla and Major Sheppard.

Jack watched her carefully, standing up as she approached him. He put his hand up to stop her and raised the other hand as the crystals inside it began to glow once more.

"I never noticed it before, but you're part Wraith aren't you?" Jack asked as he slowly ran the crystals up her chest, stopping at her forehead.

Teyla nodded. "I am, though I did not know of it until recently."

"Is there a problem, sir?" Sheppard was quick to step in seeing that General appeared suspicious of his teammate.

"Not at the moment, Major. I just felt a strange vibe when she walked into the room."

"General O'Neill." Dr. Weir called out as she moved through the crowd of people to get to where Teyla and Sheppard were standing. "Teyla's not a problem."

"I know that, doctor. I don't sense anything out of place, as I said it was just a vibe I felt when she walked in. I trust her as much as you and Major Sheppard do."

"What are we going to do now?" Jack looked over at Dr. Weir and shook his head.

"First, we have to get in touch with the Daedalus. They should have taken control of that last Hive ship by now. While we're doing that we need to tend to any wounded we have."

"Desa and I will handle that." Chaya nodded her head as she and Oma began to move about the room checking on those that had been injured in the battle.

Jack moved to grab the radio from Sheppard to contact the Daedalus. As expected the Hive ship had been disabled by the energy beam he had used on the Wraith, and the crew of the Daedalus was able to commandeer the Hive ship and steer it away from the city.

"We shot down the few escape pods that were jettisoned from the Hive ship. We can beam down to your locale in just a minute, sir."

"Good work, Major. We'll see ya in a bit. O'Neill out." Handing the radio back to Sheppard, Jack smiled and retook his seat on the steps.

"I'd sure like to know what happened earlier, sir." Colonel Howard approached the General. "What was that beam that went through the city?"

"That's a long story, Colonel." Jack sighed as he brought his right hand to his head to gently rub his aching temple. "I'll explain everything once we're back on Earth."

"What about my people, general?" Turning to Dr. Weir, Jack nodded.

"Since we have the capability of coming back here at will, at least for the moment. We're going to do a proper debrief over the info you sent us earlier, then anyone that wants to is welcome to return. From what I can tell your team has done a helluva great job out here on your own."

"What about the Wraith?" McKay chimed in, not to anyone's surprise sounding negative. "There are more Hive ships out there, they won't stop coming just because we got rid of three of their ships."

"You have a point Dr. McKay, and we'll discuss that once we're back on Earth."

Before anyone could say another word a crew from the Daedalus arrived and the General was quick to move to greet them. Within an hour the ZPM from the Daedalus was placed in the city, so that the shield could be raised once more, and both the Hive ship and the Daedalus landed on the mainland and once they made sure both ships were secure, they took shuttles back to the city so they could depart back to Earth. A small contingent remained in the city, but everyone else returned to Earth to regroup and debrief on their current situation.

Jack made sure he was the last one to go through the gate, Weir was right by his side as they waved good-bye to the crew remaining behind. They stepped through the event horizon and found themselves on Earth once more.

> > > >

In his non-corporeal state he watched from a distance as the shield was powered up to surround Atlantis. For the first time in 10,000 years Anubis felt as though he were completely out of control. Never before had he faced such an adversary, even the other System Lords hadn't been as cunning and quick as the man he'd faced this day. The mere fact that he was strong enough to jar his mental control was enough to drive the former Goa'uld to madness, but he focused on his plan. He was patient. He would wait until they least expected it, and then he would strike. The Tau'ri would pay for their foolishness, and the one called O'Neill would pay the highest price for his insolence.

> > > >

They had been back for nearly three days, and Jack couldn't shake the feeling that something big was brewing. He had sat through hours of debriefing with the members of the Atlantis team, and he was slowly going out of his mind from the monotony of it all. He had managed to explain the energy beam as something that the Ascendeds had done, but he couldn't give a plausible reason for the crystals in his hand.

Not to his surprise the President had ordered him temporarily relieved of duty until the situation with the crystals was dealt with. He was delightfully surprised to find that General Hammond had been brought back to take his place. The bald Texan gave him a broad smile as the two men met at the elevator.

"It's good to see you again, Jack."

"Thank you, sir. You know if you wanna make this permanent I'll gladly take a demotion back to Colonel." Hammond rolled his eyes at his former 2IC's sense of humor, though he could sense there was truth in the soldier's words.

"I'm glad to be back, but I'd hate to see you a Colonel again. It's nice to not have to put of with your crap all the time."

"Ouch! That almost hurt, sir." Jack feigned a hurt look, but started to laugh a second later.

"Only you, Jack." Hammond shook his head. "You're never gonna call me George are you?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Hammond got his answer. "Old habits die hard."

The two generals moved through the corridor, not stopping until they reached Jack's office. Once there they closed the door, Jack quickly moving to shut off the cameras and recording equipment in the room before he began to speak.

"There's a lot I have to tell you, but you have to swear to me it won't leave this room."

Hammond wasn't surprised at Jack's action or his request, he nodded slowly in agreement. "I'll hear you out, but…"

"No buts, George. What I'm gonna tell you can't leave here. Only my team and select few outside them knows. If you can't promise me this, then I'll turn everything back on right now."

The two-star General was stunned and it took a moment for him to find his tongue. "Alright, I'm listening Jack. Unless you say otherwise it all stays between us."

"Thank you." Jack nodded and slowly began to his tale, telling Hammond about whom and what he was, and all that had really happened on Atlantis.

As he listened to O'Neill speak George couldn't help but be amazed. For a moment he almost didn't want to believe any of it, but he knew that Jack would never blatantly lie to him like that. Over two hours passed as the two men continued their conversation, Jack answering all the questions his former CO had for him. Finally, they reached a stopping point and Hammond let out a breath he felt he'd been holding since Jack had begun talking.

"That's a helluva story, Jack."

"I realize that."

"So what happens now? You said you know Anubis isn't dead."

"He's not. He's still in Pegasus somewhere, planning his next move. The Wraith are still coming, but at least now we'll be prepared for them."

Hammond sighed and shook his head. "What about you? You say those crystals won't go away until you've completed that task you were given. How are you gonna do that?"

"Still working on that one. Right now your focus needs to be on Anubis. I can't explain it, but I know he's planning something." Jack looked away for a moment, trying to find the courage to make his next statement. "I have to go back with Oma and Chaya."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"No, sir. But I have no choice. The Ascendeds are on the brink of going to war. It's my fault. If Chaya and Oma hadn't interfered to help me, this wouldn't be happening. I have to do something. With you here I'm free to go and take care of things there. Hopefully, we can find a peaceful solution to things, but in the meantime I need to be sure that Earth is safe."

Hammond raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What does that have to do with me?"

"George, you're the only one that can be trusted to run this place. The Atlantis team is going back in a week. We're already vulnerable because we have no idea what Anubis's next move is. I need you here to make sure things are safe."

"I'm just one man, Jack."

O'Neill smirked and nodded his head. "That you are, but...trust me on this one. I need you here."

With a heavy sigh Hammond shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, Jack. I'll do what I can. How long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure. I've already talked to Thor and he's going to be my cover while I'm gone. All you have to tell the President is that Thor beamed me away to study the crystals. I'll make a few strategically timed communications with the SGC when the need arises, hopefully I'll be back before ya know it."

Hammond brought his hand to his head to run his fingers over his scalp. He was beginning to wonder just how he got himself into these things.

> > > >

Jack strolled through the halls of the SGC casually nodding to some of the people he passed as he made his way back to his quarters. Telling Hammond the truth had been harder than expected, but he had known from the beginning that the General would be accepting of things. His only hope was that everything would work out in the coming days.

He could feel the rage building inside him as he thought of what was to come. He may not know what Anubis was planning, but he was certain that if he wasn't careful he would walk straight into whatever plan the enemy was already putting into place. Sighing he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and pushed himself forward into the elevator before him.

After pressing the right button he waited until he'd reached his floor and quickly exited when the doors opened. He could hear Daniel calling after him as he turned the corner, but he kept moving hoping the younger man would leave him alone. To his dismay, the archeologist followed his straight to his quarters, panting for a breath as he finally caught up to him.

"Didn't…you…hear…me…back there?" Daniel asked through ragged breaths.

"Sorry, Danny. Can't say that I did?" Reluctantly Jack let Daniel inside his quarters and closed the door behind him.

"What's with you? Ever since we got back you've been acting strange."

Sighing Jack shook his head. "Not sure what you're talking about."

"Bullshit…you can't lie to me, Jack."

With a smirk Jack took a seat on the edge of his bed. "If you're so brilliant, then why don't you tell ME what's going on?"

Daniel ground his teeth together and let out a heavy sigh. "You're worried."

"Aren't we all?"

"No you're worried about Atlantis, when Anubis will strike next, and you're also worried about what's going to happen to the Ascendeds."

"So you're a mind reader now as well?" Jack rolled his eyes as he leaned back and stretched out on the bed.

"No…I just know you."

"Ha! You only think you do."

"I know you better than you think I do." Daniel took a few steps closer to Jack and sat down next to him on the bed. "You're leaving soon, aren't you?"

"How the hell did you…?" His sentence was cut off as he jerked his head in Daniel's direction and sat up.

"You know I remember things every now and then…things from when I was Ascended. One of the things I remember was the balance that had already started to dissipate between the Outcasts like Oma and the other Ascendeds who followed the rules. There was a fragile peace between the two groups, the Outcasts accepting their restrictions and the Others avoiding them. You, Oma, Chaya and the others blew that to hell, the only thing standing between an all-out war is you."

Jack laughed weakly. "I have to try and do something. Oma and Chaya broke the rules to save me."

"I'm not saying you shouldn't go, Jack."

"Then what are you saying?"

Daniel chewed on his lip before hesitantly answering. "I want to come with you."

He shot the younger man a glare that would have stopped most anyone else in their tracks, but the archeologist simply crossed his arms over his chest in defiance.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"I'm a part of this too, Jack."

"How do you figure that!" Jack raised an eyebrow as he shook his head in disbelief.

With a heavy sigh Daniel reached out to touch Jack's arm. "When we were at the trial you said that Ayola and Jarron were related to me, that I was their descendant. If that's the case then I'm also part Ancient. Whatever is going to happen out there involves my family, so that makes me a part of this."

"Nice deductive reasoning, but you're still not coming with me."

"So you don't deny that I'm part Ancient?"

Jack shook his head. "Not at all. I know exactly what you are, Daniel, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you walk into a possibly dangerous situation when it can be avoided."

"You're not my protector, Jack. You may think you are, but I'm a grown man. I can take care of myself. I was also ascended, something you've never been. I can help you if you let me."

"I'm going to try to stop a war, Daniel. How exactly do you think you can help?"

Daniel rolled his eyes as he pulled away from Jack. "You really underestimate me. After all these years I thought you would have stopped that by now."

"I'm not underestimating you. I need you here."

"No you want me here so I'll be safe and out of your way." Angrily Daniel stood and moved towards the desk a few feet away.

"That's not true."

"Isn't it though? You've always seen me as a liability. First it was because I was the untrained civilian, and now it's because…because you don't trust me."

Jack was on his feet and by Daniel's side in an instant. "Damn it! Daniel, I do trust you. I trust you with my life."

Turning around Daniel saw the sincere look on his friend's face. "Then why won't you let me help you?"

Sighing Jack looked away. "I don't want to lose you. You're the last link I have to Jarron, the only real family I have left. I won't put you at risk."

"It's my decision. It's also my life, you can't choose for me. I want to do this." Daniel paused, brought his hand up and squeezed Jack's shoulder. "I…need to do this."

Bringing his hand to his forehead Jack let out a deep breath and focused his eyes on Daniel. "We leave tomorrow morning. Be ready."

With that Jack turned around and sat back down on the bed as Daniel nodded moving slowly for the door. He paused just as his hand touched the doorknob. He wanted to say something, but no words came to him, at least none he felt would have been appropriate. Instead, he pulled the door open, thrusting himself out into the hall, and walked away as the door clicked closed behind him.

The next morning Jack stood ready at the gate as Daniel walked in adjusting the collar on his BDUs as he took his place beside the general. A moment later the gate whooshed open and both men nodded to General Hammond, who was standing by the blast doors giving them a thumbs up so they could leave. They quickly moved up the ramp and stepped into the event horizon. When they came through the other side Daniel was surprised to find they were on Dakara.

"What are we doing here?" He asked as he watched Jack walking towards the DHD a few yards away.

"We're catching a connecting flight." Daniel raised an eyebrow at his friend's quip, as he followed him down the steps and away from the Stargate.

Jack hurriedly pushed some symbols on the DHD and the gate came alive once more. He motioned for Daniel to follow as he charged back up the steps and through the newly formed wormhole. Shaking his head Daniel took off after his companion to plunge through the Stargate, wondering just where they were headed.

He was greeted by a familiar face as he exited the event horizon, he smiled at the welcoming embrace he received from Skaara.

"I did not know that O'Neill would be bringing you, Dan-yel."

Daniel sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to come along."

"Let's get going, guys." Jack's voice got their attention as they quickly followed him away from the gate.

They reached the temple where Oma and the others were waiting for them. Jack was shocked by the number of former Outcasts that he saw as he stepped up to greet Oma and Chaya.

"We were beginning to think you wouldn't come." Chaya pulled Jack into an embrace.

"I'm sorry. I had to deal with things on Earth before I came here." Looking around Jack turned back to Oma. "How is Ayola?"

The Ascended woman smiled and pointed to Jack's left. The room began to part as a familiar figure came into view.

"I am well. I am sorry I missed your battle with Anubis. I would have liked to have seen his defeat."

With a soft smile Jack pulled the young man into his arms. "It's good to see you well again."

"I see you've brought Daniel with you."

Jack groaned and he shook his head. "He wants to help."

Ayola nodded as he reached out his hand to Daniel. "We could use all the help we can get."

"You make it sound as though the war has already started." Daniel said as he stepped back from Ayola.

Jack looked around the room at all those in the temple and then his eyes settled on Chaya and Oma. The look on their faces told him all he needed to know. He glanced over at Daniel who also read the looks on the Ascended women's faces and both men sighed.

"I didn't want this to happen." Jack clenched his fists together, feeling the anger inside him begin to build up.

"This is not your fault. This has been brewing for thousands of years."

Chaya placed her hand on Jack's shoulder, but he shrugged it away. "That may be so, but war?…a war could destroy everything. None of us is ready for this."

"No one's ever ready for a war, Jack. We just have to hope that we're capable of handling the fallout."

Jack turned to Daniel, the younger man seemed so much wiser than a human his age should be and then it became clear to him. Daniel did need to be here, their fate would be shared along with every other being that was with them now. Everything had led them to this point. The call of war had been sounded and they had no choice but to answer…and answer they would.

The end…


End file.
